Mishna 12
“Four types among those who give charity.”
We must analyze why, in the previous Mishnah, four types of students are mentioned, and in the following mishnayot, we find four types of people who go to the Beit Midrash (study hall) and four types among those who sit before the Sages. Why then did the Tanna insert this Mishnah, which discusses the mitzvah of tzedakah (charity), in the midst of mishnayot that deal with Torah study?
This can be explained based on what the commentary Brit Avraham wrote (on Tehillim, remez 871) regarding the verse: “He scattered, he gave to the poor; his charity endures forever” (Tehillim 112:9). The mitzvah of tzedakah endures forever, and not even a transgression can annul it. Although the Gemara (Sotah 21a) says that a transgression extinguishes a mitzvah, the greatness of tzedakah is such that its value is likened to that of the Torah, which is also said to be unaffected by transgression.
Therefore, the Tanna included this Mishnah about those who give tzedakah among those that deal with Torah study, in order to hint at this profound insight: that the mitzvah of charity is as great as Torah study, and a transgression does not nullify it — just as it does not nullify the merit of Torah.
