A few days ago I happened to be speaking with a Charedi friend of mine who was in Kollel for many years and eventually went into Chinuch. He told me something shocking, at least to me. It was quite telling and is perhaps one reason why poverty in that community is perpetuated.
He mentioned to me that when after several years of learning in Kollel and being very frugal about how he spent his money, he ended up in debt, borrowing a few hundred dollars from one of the Gemachs in Israel.
Now, according to most opinions there is a Halachic requirement to give 10% of one’s after tax income to charity… Maaser K’safim. He justifiably felt that borrowing money so that he could give it to charity was not in the spirit of the Halacha. One can easily appreciate that his own need for Tzedaka over-rode his obligation to give it. Depressed about his situation he decided to ask a Shaila to someone whom many consider a Gadol. He wanted to know if he could be exempted from his Maaser K’safim obligation.
The Gadol asked him how much he was in debt. He answered about $500, if I recall correctly. The Gadol smiled and said, “That’s all?” “I know Avrechim who are many thousands of dollars in debt.” “This is nothing!” “You’re not going to get an exemption from me!”
He then proceeded to tell this Avreich the story the GRA. It goes something like this:
The GRA had calculated based on his circumstances that he needed every dollar he had to purchase the bare minimum for sustenance and exmpted himself from the Maaser K’safim obligation. He then sent a Shaliach to fetch some water from a well. The Sheliach took a bucket from the GRA and lowered it down the well. The bucket fell in. It was a pretty deep well and he couldn’t pull it out. Frustrated he went back to the GRA and told him about it. The GRA said, “I have no extra money for new buckets, please try and retrieve the bucket from the well.
The Sheliach got a hatchet from the GRA, tied it to a rope and lowered it into the well so as to “hook” the bucket with the hatchet and raise it up. The hatchet then fell in too!
He went back to the GRA and told him about it. The GRA exclaimed, “That bucket and that hatchet equal 10% of my wealth which could have gone to Tzedaka!” He took this as a sign that his Psak about his obligation to give Tzedaka was wrong.
So, this Gadol, based on this story, did not exempt this Avreich from his 10% Tzedaka obligation.
But I do not understand this at all. How is it possible to say that one must put himself in debt so that he can give charity? I can’t imagine the pressure this puts on Avreichim. And on the Gemach’s. It’s one thing to borrow money in order to live. That alone can make normal people depressed. But to on top of that, to force them to give charity from money they do not have seems like a prescription for disaster. How many Avrechim are in this kind of situation? How many live on borrowed money and raise their debt so they can give 10% of their money to other people when they need it just as much themselves?
Isn’t this kind of ironic? If giving money to a Gemach is considered Tzedaka, and an acceptable avenue for one’s Maaser K’safim, then giving money that you borrow from it back to that Gemach does not reduce one’s loan by one penny! How ridiculous is that?!
But more importantly if this scenario is played out enough times, I can easily see how it can cause Shalom Bayis problems which then may even contribute to the delinquency of their children! I know of at least one Avreich where this kind of poverty was a major contributing factor to some of his children going “off the Derech”.
Yet this is what one Gadol told an Avreich to do. Borrow money and give it to charity! (…not in that order, but the effect is the same). He in essence was telling this Avreich that living in debt is a perfectly normal way of life for an Avreich and does not exempt anyone from giving his own charity. I guess they think that if business people can have great wealth, give huge amounts of Tzedaka and be in debt at the same time, why not an Avreich?
Right. Same thing.
