113
edits
Charity: Difference between revisions
From Halachipedia
no edit summary
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 5: | Line 5: | ||
# Many opinions hold that if one decided to give charity mentally without expressing it verbally, one should fulfill that decision. <ref>There's two opinions in Shulchan Aruch C”M 212:8 if a mental thought to make something hekdesh or [[tzedaka]] is binding. The Rama C”M 212:8 and Y"D 258:13 writes that the halacha is that it is binding. Yachava Daat 6:52 has a doubt about the opinion of Shulchan Aruch. On the one hand, since there are two opinions in S”A, it would seem that the halacha is like the second one, who in this case is lenient. But, on the other hand, the second opinion is quoted as yesh mi she'omer in singular, whereas the first is quoted in plural yesh omrim. Yalkut Yosef y"d 247-259:12 just quotes S"A but doesn't give a definitive ruling. In one article of [http://www.dailyhalacha.com/displayRead.asp?readID=1205 DailyHalacha by Rabbi Mansour], he writes that we're lenient according to the opinion of the Daat Esh who says that everyone agrees that its not binding if the whole event was mental but there's a dispute if you said you'd give but didn't specify. However, the Yachava Daat 6:52 argues that this opinion is not implied by S"A. However, in another article [http://www.dailyhalacha.com/displayRead.asp?readID=2375 Rabbi Mansour] writes that we're machmir that it is binding according to the Or Letzion. </ref> | # Many opinions hold that if one decided to give charity mentally without expressing it verbally, one should fulfill that decision. <ref>There's two opinions in Shulchan Aruch C”M 212:8 if a mental thought to make something hekdesh or [[tzedaka]] is binding. The Rama C”M 212:8 and Y"D 258:13 writes that the halacha is that it is binding. Yachava Daat 6:52 has a doubt about the opinion of Shulchan Aruch. On the one hand, since there are two opinions in S”A, it would seem that the halacha is like the second one, who in this case is lenient. But, on the other hand, the second opinion is quoted as yesh mi she'omer in singular, whereas the first is quoted in plural yesh omrim. Yalkut Yosef y"d 247-259:12 just quotes S"A but doesn't give a definitive ruling. In one article of [http://www.dailyhalacha.com/displayRead.asp?readID=1205 DailyHalacha by Rabbi Mansour], he writes that we're lenient according to the opinion of the Daat Esh who says that everyone agrees that its not binding if the whole event was mental but there's a dispute if you said you'd give but didn't specify. However, the Yachava Daat 6:52 argues that this opinion is not implied by S"A. However, in another article [http://www.dailyhalacha.com/displayRead.asp?readID=2375 Rabbi Mansour] writes that we're machmir that it is binding according to the Or Letzion. </ref> | ||
# If one '''verbalizes''' this commitment, one must make good on it immediately to not violate the command "בל תאחר / do not delay" <ref> KSA 34:9 </ref>. If no poor are available, one must set it aside until he finds poor people. <ref> Ibid. </ref>. | # If one '''verbalizes''' this commitment, one must make good on it immediately to not violate the command "בל תאחר / do not delay" <ref> KSA 34:9 </ref>. If no poor are available, one must set it aside until he finds poor people. <ref> Ibid. </ref>. | ||
# One should be very careful not to raise his voice against or embarrass a poor person <ref> KSA 34:8 </ref>. | |||
# One should be very careful not to raise his voice against or embarrass a poor person <ref> | |||
# There is doubt whether it counts as [[Tzedaka]] if you give [[Tzedaka]] to someone who is a fraud. Therefore, one must attempt to verify whether the person is poor before one gives <ref> http://www.ravaviner.com/2010/02/giving-tzedakah-to-beggars.html </ref>. | # There is doubt whether it counts as [[Tzedaka]] if you give [[Tzedaka]] to someone who is a fraud. Therefore, one must attempt to verify whether the person is poor before one gives <ref> http://www.ravaviner.com/2010/02/giving-tzedakah-to-beggars.html </ref>. | ||
# A person shouldn't accept honor by virtue of the [[Tzedaka]] that he gives; however, if he donates something, it is permitted for his name to be written on it, so that it should be a rememberance for him; it is fitting to do this <ref> KSA 34:13 </ref>. | |||
==Who is obligated to give?== | ==Who is obligated to give?== | ||
| Line 19: | Line 18: | ||
# It is better to give a lot of poor people a little money, then to give one poor person a lot of money. <ref> Rambam Peirush Hamishnayot Avot 3:15 </ref> | # It is better to give a lot of poor people a little money, then to give one poor person a lot of money. <ref> Rambam Peirush Hamishnayot Avot 3:15 </ref> | ||
# One who gives to charity shouldn't give more than a fifth of his income, so that he doesn't become poor himself during his life; on his death bed, he can give up to 1/3 of his inheritance to charity <ref> KSA 34:4 </ref>. | # One who gives to charity shouldn't give more than a fifth of his income, so that he doesn't become poor himself during his life; on his death bed, he can give up to 1/3 of his inheritance to charity <ref> KSA 34:4 </ref>. | ||
# One is forbidden to turn away a beggar emptyhanded, even if | # One is forbidden to turn away a beggar emptyhanded, even if one only gives him one fig. If one doesn't have any money, one should comfort him with words <ref> Ibid. 34:8 </ref>. | ||
==Whom To Give To== | ==Whom To Give To== | ||
| Line 25: | Line 24: | ||
# In order of preference: One should give to his poor relatives before the poor of his city, the poor of his city before the poor of a different city. <ref> KSA 34:6, learned out from the verse: לאחיך לעניך ולאביונך בארצך </ref>. However, a public charity collector must not give precedence to his relatives <ref> ibid. </ref>. | # In order of preference: One should give to his poor relatives before the poor of his city, the poor of his city before the poor of a different city. <ref> KSA 34:6, learned out from the verse: לאחיך לעניך ולאביונך בארצך </ref>. However, a public charity collector must not give precedence to his relatives <ref> ibid. </ref>. | ||
# It is called "[[Tzedaka]]" to give money for children above 6 years of age (one is not obligated to support them beyond that age), in order to support one's sons for Torah learning or guide one's daughters in a proper path, and to give money to a father who can't support himself. Indeed, they take precedence over other people entitled to receive [[Tzedaka]] <ref> ibid. </ref>. | # It is called "[[Tzedaka]]" to give money for children above 6 years of age (one is not obligated to support them beyond that age), in order to support one's sons for Torah learning or guide one's daughters in a proper path, and to give money to a father who can't support himself. Indeed, they take precedence over other people entitled to receive [[Tzedaka]] <ref> ibid. </ref>. | ||
==How to Give it== | |||
# One who gives [[Tzedaka]] should do it from the best of his property. If one buys a place of [[prayer]], it should be nicer than his house. One who feeds a poor person should give him from the best things on his table. One who gives clothing to someone who doesn't have should give him from the nicest of his clothing. <ref> Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 34:5 </ref>. | |||
# Anyone who gives [[Tzedaka]] to a poor person with a negative expression or face looking at the ground--even if he gave him 1,000 gold pieces--loses his merit, and in fact violates a Torah commandment <ref> KSA 34:7 </ref>. Rather, one is obligated to give him with a nice expression, with happiness, with empathy for his plight, and with words of encouragement <ref> ibid. </ref>. | |||
# The highest form of [[Tzedaka]] is preventing a poor person from becoming poor in the first place--for example, giving him a proper gift in a respectable way that prevents him from becoming poor, loaning him, becoming a business partner, or finding him a job <ref> KSA 34:12 </ref>. | |||
# One should be careful to give [[Tzedaka]] as privately as possible; if possible, it is best if he doesn't know whom he is giving to, and they don't know whom they received it from. <ref> KSA 34:13. See earlier, that it is clear that one must give to a person in legitimate need </ref>. | |||
==Maaser Kesafim== | ==Maaser Kesafim== | ||
| Line 40: | Line 45: | ||
==Taking Tzedaka== | ==Taking Tzedaka== | ||
# A person should endeavor to refrain from taking charity and endure some hardship in order not to take charity. Chazal state that it is preferable to make your [[Shabbat]] meal like a weekday rather than take from charity. (See the [[Kavod Shabbat]] page for the practical laws about how a poor person should fulfill [[Kavod Shabbat]].) Anyone who presses himself to live with difficulty without taking charity is blessed to one day have enough money to support others. Nonetheless, one who needs to take from charity in order to live and doesn't take is sinning.<ref>Kitzur S"A 34:15-16</ref> | # A person should endeavor to refrain from taking charity and endure some hardship in order not to take charity. Chazal state that it is preferable to make your [[Shabbat]] meal like a weekday rather than take from charity. (See the [[Kavod Shabbat]] page for the practical laws about how a poor person should fulfill [[Kavod Shabbat]].) Anyone who presses himself to live with difficulty without taking charity is blessed to one day have enough money to support others. Nonetheless, one who needs to take from charity in order to live and doesn't take is sinning.<ref>Kitzur S"A 34:15-16</ref> | ||
# A person who doesn't need to take charity and nonetheless deceives people and takes | # A person who doesn't need to take charity and nonetheless deceives people and takes won't die before he genuinely becomes poor.<ref>Kitzur S"A 34:16</ref> | ||
==Miscellaneous Statements about Tzedaka== | ==Miscellaneous Statements about Tzedaka== | ||
| Line 53: | Line 58: | ||
# A person shouldn't say, "how can I diminish my money and give it to the poor", because he should know that the money doesn't belong to him, but is instead a a deposit from Hashem in order to do His will<ref> ibid. </ref>. | # A person shouldn't say, "how can I diminish my money and give it to the poor", because he should know that the money doesn't belong to him, but is instead a a deposit from Hashem in order to do His will<ref> ibid. </ref>. | ||
# [[Tzedaka]] pushes aside evil decrees and adds life.<ref> ibid. </ref> | # [[Tzedaka]] pushes aside evil decrees and adds life.<ref> ibid. </ref> | ||
# One who convinces others to give is greater than the one who gives. <ref> Ibid. 34:11 </ref>. | |||
# The reward for a [[Tzedaka]] collector is even greater; if the poor give him a hard time, he shouldn't be worried, for this increases his reward <ref> Ibid. </ref>. | |||
==Sources== | ==Sources== | ||
<references/> | <references/> | ||
[[Category:Between Man And His Fellow]] | [[Category:Between Man And His Fellow]] | ||
