by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com One girl needs to get to seminary.  A boy needs money for clothing.  A Yeshivah needs money.  The Mikbah!  A Kiruv organization.  Our shul needs money! Who do we give to first?  Are there halachos? The answer is yes, but first, more questions. There are many organizations in Eretz Yisroel and throughout New York that are also in need of funds.   Do these organizations and aniyim have precedence over our local yeshivos, schools, and Bais Yaakovs? Where does one’s brother-in-law who works in chinuch fit in to all this? What are the best tzedakahs in terms of halachah? Do the poskim enumerate a hierarchy or order as to which tzedakos or which aniyim (poor people) we should give to first? A work printed a few years ago in Yerushalayim by Rabbi Avrohom Moshe Zemmel, entitled “Ahavas Tzedakah,” provides us with a number of answers. THREE CHARITIES PRECEDE ALL OTHERS There are three types of tzedakah where the phrase “kodemes lakol” (it precedes everything else) is employed. The three types are: 1.      Charity given to a Torah educational institute whose very existence is threatened with closure and the future of Torah for K’lal Yisrael, the Jewish People, is at stake. There are only three things for which we must sacrifice our lives—to avoid the sins of murder, arayos, and idol worship. Yet we see that Rabbi Akiva sacrificed his life in order to teach Torah. How could this be? The answer is that it involved the future of Torah for the Jewish People. (This is based upon the words of Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz zt”l in the introduction to the Birchas Shmuel on Bava Basra.) 2.      Charity given to save a Jew from conversion in a situation where it is permissible to violate the Shabbos in order to save him (see Orach Chaim 306:14). 3.      Charity given to save a life—or to possibly save a life—i.e., pikuach nefesh. Regarding charity for the poor, the precedence is as follows: •       A poor person who is a relative receives precedence over a poor person who is unrelated. (Of course, if he will starve, the hungry poor person comes first.) A related poor person takes priority over the unrelated poor person even if the unrelated one is a Torah scholar (see Rabbi Akiva Eiger, Y.D. 251:3). The question is which relative “beats” the other relatives in a “claim” for charity? Are there criteria as to which relative should be supported first? The answer is also yes. THE PRECEDENCE OF RELATIVES •       The first relative that deserves one’s charity is yourself. If you cannot make a living, you should not be giving to others before yourself. This is based upon the pasuk “V’chai achicha imach—and your brother shall live with you”; your existence comes first (Tur, Yoreh Deah, chapter 251, citing Rav Saadya Gaon). •       The next relative is one’s parents. A father and mother come before anyone else. •       A son and daughter come next. •       A brother and sister come next. •       A paternal sibling comes before a maternal sibling. •       One’s spouse’s relatives come before strangers. •       One’s ex-spouse comes before others (see Rema 119:8). There are a number of people that will be pretty upset about this one – but halacha is halacha. •       A […]
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