Maaser/Tzedakah

BTW, there are those who are learning who happen to be poor. If the halochic preferences work out, sounds like two birds with one stone

I don’t know if I can answer your question entirely, but I think that both situations are important. It’s very nice to be able to give a large sum of money to an organization who helps to the poor & needy. But, not always is it financially possible to give one big lump sum to 1 place. The mitzvah isn’t to only give to 1 place a lg. lump sum. You can give to as many places even if there smaller amounts of money. (It’s like when you get in the mail these pamphlets from some organization based in Eretz Yisrael & they tell you that if you call in by a certain day & time w/ $180, $250 etc. you can have your name/s mentioned by the Kosel & other Mekomos Hakedoshim w/ a minyan of people saying Tehillim for 40 days/nts & see your Yeshuah IY”H. Like how many people do you all know that can afford to always give such types of sums. Oh, w/ some of these organizations, if you want to put in more than 1 name, so you need to give at least double the amount of Money. In these difficult times w/ the economy, how many people out there can really afford to give these amounts that are being requested?) I find that when I have to give to more than one place either from organizations that I have pledged to already & other things that come in the mail, since I’m not in a position to be able to give very large sums of monies, so I try to divide it up between each organization. To some, I might give $18, & some others I might give $36. If I feel I want to give more, so I give as much as I feel I can give at that time.

smile66, I can understand how you feel, but I don’t think you have to feel so bad about this. Money is tight is many homes especially in these bad economic times. I don’t think it’s a drop in the bucket as you mention. I’m sure these people do get donations from other people as well. I don’t know if they get from 500 other people. But I would imagine that they do get some of it. In addition, I don’t think that it’s incorrect to think that it’s wrong to give to various different places. Not everyone is in a position to be able to give so generously to one person/organization. The more a person is able to distribute his tzedakah to different places, the greater the mitzvah. Hatzlacha w/ your dilemma.

smile, maybe ask a rav or teacher. i know that there is a long ramban in mishpatim (i think) about tzedaka. i remember learning it in like 10th or 11th grade. it lists the different ways to give tzedaka, and who comes first when giving, and whether its better to give a lot to one person or a little to many….

~{]*YC*[}~

Smile, speak to your Rav. Its not just a matter of splitting, its also a matter of where your money goes.

For instance, you are supposed to support the poor in your family and city before others.

Also, if you go for the organization route, look for those with low overhead.

While on the subject of tzedoka, what would you answer to the following? One of our mother’s aides/nurse who is with us for a few years came with an envelope today and asked if we can donate to her house of worship. They lost their lease and need money. She is with our family and sees our community and sees the way we help each other so she too is asking for our charity.

She is a seventh adventist! Yes, we will ask our Rav how to handle this, but i figured some of you will have a laugh reading this.

first, for you to give her, is simply assur!!

I don’t know the halachot of tzedaka that well, but why would it be assur? 7th day adventists are not necessarily considered A”Z. In addition, you can give maaser to non-Jews if they are needy (at least, per my Rav).

to smile66 and derech hamelech: about what you wrote “Are we supposed to give tzeddakah because it’s a mitzvah or because we are rachmanim bnei rachmanim?” and “Then again, how can mitzvos and our inborn rachmanus contradict?”

From where did you hear that tzedakah does not go together with the mida of rachamim and beney rachamim, or even to say, they contradict each other?? You’re implying that giving “smaller” sums to different organizations it not being bene rachamim. Quite the contrary. The more often you give, even if its much smaller sums, the more that you practice your middah of giving. And the more an action is done, the greater positive change it has on your middah. Furthemore, tzedakah has two “parts.” One is the physical aspect, and one is the spiritual. So even if you give a coin, the spiritual reward for the mitzvah is enormous. And who knows what “effects” this spiritual merit will have on the physical needs of others – just to open the horizons a bit.

And true, we don’t do a mitzvah because of the rewards – but I wanted to point out from your example there’s no basis to concluded that giving tzedakah in small amounts to different places contradicts being benei rachamim. Furthemore, if a thousand people give 1 dollar to a thousand organizations, or a thousand people each give one thousand dollars to one unique organization – the monetary outcome is the same. But in the first example, each gave 1000 times, and has build up that trait much more.

But certainly, a Rav would need to be consulted.

All the best

Excellent, PAA. I believe this is what CA was referring to.