I. Obligations to Give

Giving charity, supporting those in need, is a great mitzvah. It is important not only in order to help those who need financial assistance but also to create a giving character, which is integral to the Jewish personality. Sadly, there are people who try to take advantage of the mitzvah to give tzedaka and the merciful and giving Jewish personality. What do we do when we encounter people who might be trying to take advantage of us? Some communities require charity collectors to go to a rabbinic board that checks references to ensure the collector is legitimate and provides a verification letter to show the public. What about collectors who do not have such letters or who collect in places that do not have such a robust system? Despite the importance of the obligation to give tzedaka, it only applies to someone who is genuinely poor. If there is no mitzvah to give someone tzedaka, there is also no prohibition against hardening your heart and closing your hand.

Rav Gedaliah Felder (20th c., Canada) explains that the positive and negative commandments are inherently connected. The prohibitions only apply when the positive commandment applies. If so, when there is no obligation to give tzedaka, then there is no prohibition to send the collector away empty-handed. However, Rav Moshe Isserles (16th c., Poland) adds that it is forbidden to turn away a poor person without giving him even a minimal amount because of the verse, “Do not return an oppressed person ashamed” (Ps. 74:21). Even when there is no technical obligation to give tzedaka to a poor person, such as when you already gave your maximum or he is asking for a future need, you cannot shame him by turning him away with nothing (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 249:4). You have to give him something.

II. Verifying Collectors

The Gemara (Bava Basra 9a) presents a disagreement between Rav Huna and Rav Yehudah about when we verify charity collectors. Everyone agrees that if someone is starving to the point that his life is in danger that we must feed him. When someone is hungry but not starving, Rav Huna says we must verify his need before feeding him. But if someone needs clothing, we do not make him wait standing ashamed in his tattered or missing clothing while we verify him. Rather, according to Rav Huna, we only verify for food but not for clothing or other needs. Rav Yehudah says that we verify for clothing and other needs but not for food. It is painful to wait in hunger while the rabbi or communal functionary verifies your need. This is in contrast to Purim, which is the one day a year on which we give to anyone who stretches out his hand in request (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 693:3). The consensus follows Rav Yehudah that normally we verify for any request other than food (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 151:10).

It would seem from this ruling that if a charity collector asks for food, we have to give him something to eat. If he asks for anything else, we should verify his need before giving to him. (Rav Yaakov Yeshaya Bloi; Tzedaka U-Mishpat 3:1 n. 2) leaves as an open question whether someone who asks for money to buy food is considered someone asking for food or not.) When a collector has a verification letter, we give him generously. When he does not, it would seem from Rav Isserles’ ruling above that we must give him at least something, a minimal amount. Indeed, that seems to be the mainstream approach and such is reported in the name of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (20th c., Israel; Ve-Aleihu Lo Yibol, vol. 2, p. 111).

A contrary view is taken by Rav Menashe Klein (21st c., US). He argues that when someone asks you for tzedaka, you are obligated either to give or to verify whether the recipient is needy. If you choose not to spend the time and effort to verify the collector then you have to give him tzedaka (Responsa Mishneh Halachos, vol. 16, no. 69). According to the first approach above, you only have to give a minimal amount to an unverified collector. According to Rav Klein, you must give a robust amount like you would give to a verified collector.

III. Giving Nothing

Rav Aharon Aryeh Katz (cont., Israel) says that many people commonly refrain from giving anything to unverified collectors. He finds this problematic because Rav Isserles says that you have to give at least a minimal amount. Rav Katz offers four justifications for this practice (Pesakim U-Teshuvos 249:8 n. 54):

1. There are so many charity collectors that they know not everyone will give and therefore you do not embarrass them by declining to give anything (based on a statement by Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski).
2. A collector will be upset by and return a minimal donation.
3. Many collectors are collecting for other people, not for themselves, in which case this rule does not apply.
4. If a collector does not provide a verification letter, maybe we do not have to give to him.

While Rav Katz says this only as a justification and not a recommendation, Rav Shlomo Aviner (cont., Israel) advocates refraining from giving tzedaka to an unverified collector. In his commentary to Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 34:1), Rav Aviner says in very strong words that you should not give tzedaka to someone who does not have a rabbinic verification letter. His investigations and discussions with other communal leaders and police officers have led him to conclude that roughly 90% of charity collectors in Israel do not need the charity money. They collect thousands of dollars that would otherwise go to people who are deep in debt and struggling to survive. Presumably, when Rav Isserles says that we must give a minimal amount to collectors, he is referring to legitimate needy people who for one reason or another we are not obligated to give, but he is not referring to unverified collectors.

The Gemara (Kesubos 68a) says that we should appreciate the fakers (rama’im) because if not for them, we would be sinning every day when we refrain from giving charity to collectors. The exact meaning here is unclear. Is it that we are supposed to give to everyone, whether verified or not, but we sometimes fall short of that obligation? However, that shortcoming isn’t always a sin because we might be refraining from giving to a faker. This seems to contradict the Gemara in Bava Basra.

Rav Yaakov Yehoshua Falk (18th c., Germany) explains that everyone agrees there is one category of people to whom we should give without verification. According to Rav Huna, it is someone asking for clothes, and according to Rav Yehudah, it is someone asking for food. Each view would say that the Gemara is referring to his category of collector who does not need verification (Pnei Yehoshua, Kesubos 68a). We should give everyone in that category all that they need but we do not always do so. The only reason we aren’t always sinners is that some people within that category do not really need tzedaka.

The danger in this type of conversation is that it might discourage people from giving tzedaka to the people who need it. We must be particularly careful to develop generous personalities and to support those who need our help today. Those who give minimally or not at all to unverified collectors should make sure to give extra to those who are verified. The needs of our people are great. We must take care to hear the cries of the needy and help each other survive and thrive in difficult situations.

Rabbi Gil Student is the editor of TorahMusings.com. His latest book, Articles of Faith: Traditional Jewish Belief in the Internet Era, is available online and in bookstores near you.