Reply To: Government programs are not tzedakah

gavra_at_work,

Exactly the way Chazal explain it does. Nahamusa D’Kisufa. We say in Bentching every day “V’lo Lidai Matnas Basar V’dam”, but go ahead with taking such Matanos on purpose (not saying right or wrong, but it is demeaning).

This is a good point. I’m not sure that it’s what BarryLS1 meant, however, since his statement seems to imply that the giver (e.g., the government) is doing the demeaning, rather than the recipient potentially demeaning himself. Otherwise, how would the demeaning affect whether it is considered tzedakah or not?

Finally, the culture of dependency (as I’ve mentioned before) can only hurt Torah Yidden as a society.

I think that would be a risk, not a given.

That’s even if it is not Tzedaka :), and I guess off-topic.

I consider it on-topic, if the virtue of my being the OP carries any weight in these matters 🙂