Maaser to support family?

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Forum -> Judaism -> Halachic Questions and Discussions

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Aribenj

Mon, Feb 14 2011, 12:34 pm

I should probably take a course on tzedaka, but in the meantime, can some of you enlighten me on a few points?

At what point can you not give from maaser anymore?
I mean, if you are helping support a needy family, I know I can give from my maaser.
But what if that family is mine? I don't think I can give from my own maaser to myself right?
What if that family is my extended family? a niece? a grandmother? an uncle? It's still my own family right? Or could I help support, say, a newly-wed nephew? an aunt who's on disability?

On another note, is there a time limit? Like, are you allowed to support a family (not yours) who needs help indefinitely? or is there some time limit (halachically speaking?)

Thanks!

amother

Mon, Feb 14 2011, 12:44 pm

It probably would be best to call your LOR with your list.

We give BIL and SIL a check each month through our ILs. They don't know it is from us. We were told it is okay to do it.

saw50st8

Mon, Feb 14 2011, 12:47 pm

You can give your parents maaser money.

mimivan

Mon, Feb 14 2011, 1:56 pm

I learned that
1) you can give your parents and extended family maaser money. The people you usually support (Kids spouse) is considered to be your family
2) you can give maaser to a family only if that family or individual cannot make it through the month by themselves (I.e. if they can't break even)
3) My rav told us that even someone who has trouble making it himself should give maaser. What the men in collel used to to is they would give each other maaser. They were basically trading money, but they had to give, but each needed maaser, because no one was really managing, so that's what they did

but ask your LOR..that is what I learned, though in a halacha class.

ora_43

Mon, Feb 14 2011, 2:04 pm

You can give to family. You can even give to your own children, to a limited extent. For example, IIRC my rav holds that parents can use maaser money to support children over the age of 18, and to help them through university, although only if they (the children) are living a very simple lifestyle.

In general if you give to family, they have to be living a simple lifestyle, I don't think it counts if they need money just because they mismanage their own (not that you have to get into the details of their spending or anything).

To a certain extent you can even give to yourself - again I'm not 100% sure, but I've heard you can buy Torah books that you are planning to read yourself with maaser money, as long as you make them available for communal use as well.

There is no time limit for how long you can use maaser to support any one person or family.

amother

Mon, Feb 14 2011, 2:38 pm

Our rav told us that if we were barely making it we shouldn't give because you're not supposed to put yourself in a position to have to accept tzedaka. But you really should ask your rav because we were/are really struggling.

amother

Mon, Feb 14 2011, 9:22 pm

our rav told us we can give less maaser and pay more tuition instead.
before we had kids, we were helping a married sibling and that was all maaser (it wasn't tax deductible though. at a certain point, we starting making out the checks to a local chesed organization who channeled the money directly to the sibling--this way we could get a tax break also).

noosheen

Fri, Feb 25 2011, 3:06 pm

can u give to a newly married son in kollel?

amother

Fri, Feb 25 2011, 3:08 pm

We were told that we can use our maaser to pay our very high medical bills, which would otherwise need to be taken from tzedaka. You need to ask your rav.

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