Why does everyone hate on Maaser so much?

amother

Ultramarine

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 7:57 am

amother Rose wrote:

I guess some might look at a chomesh as an investment. It has a guaranteed return of riches. Hashem makes the guarantee. So I can understand why anyone rich or struggling would want to give a chomesh. The question is why are they struggling and in need of help if they are giving a chomesh?

First, she wasn't struggling yet. She was being responsible for the future when her income would be cut.

To answer other people who were asking why there are still poor people, I actually read about giving 20% inside by the source and it was very clear that you have to have extreme bitachon and truly believe that it will work. The very fact that there are people asking these questions shows that they don't necessarily believe in it and it wouldn't work for them.

The only time I think that someone shouldn't give 20%, is if they are in debt and owe people money and instead of paying them back they are giving an extra 10% to charity. Other than that it's not our business if someone wants to eat bread and water to be able to set aside extra money for this.

amother

Rose

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 8:01 am

amother Ultramarine wrote:

But this directly contradicts the idea that you can test hashem with the results of giving maaser. You are adding another contingency (that one has to have extreme bitochon) for it to work. So if it doesn't work there's no way to test hashem.

In short, how do we test hashem with giving maaser if there are other reasons why a person won't get rich from it?

amother

DarkPurple

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 8:13 am

Maaser is mandatory.
Chomesh is great if you can afford it.
Giving chomesh from money you received as tzedaka is not fair.
Giving chomesh while owing people money etc is not fair either.

There are some expenses that is controversial if it can be used from maaser money or not. If you consider that part of your chomesh though, I think you will be covered. Ie tuition, seforim etc.

amother

Ultramarine

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 8:15 am

amother Rose wrote:

For a chomesh you need bitochon, not maaser. Just giving 10% it doesn't say that you need to have bitachon.

I always wonder if it means that you'll actually get rich or if it means that you won't become poorer because you're giving the 10%. Meaning, if you didn't give the 10% you would have lost it or spent it on something else.

amother

Aster

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 8:18 am

amother Darkblue wrote:

I wish I could give maaser. It pains me every month but we were given a psak not to give when we have debt

Yes we were told the same. I still give tzedakah, I try to give as much as I can, but we have asked numerous times (as our circumstances changed) and were told that we should not give maaser.

I'm surprised at people who were told to give a chomesh even if they don't actually have the money- I would be very curious if they actually asked the shayla.

salt

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 8:25 am

allthingsblue wrote:

I don’t know but it says outright that you should give a tenth in order to get wealthy

"Who is wealthy?
He who is satisfied with his lot."

And just to get things straight, it's chazal's perush on the Torah, that you can test Hashem with maaser.
There are opinions that it only applies to maaser of grain, wine and oil.

Hebrew explanation https://ph.yhb.org.il/08-06-08/

Tzutzie

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 8:34 am

Lots of things are skewed here on imamother. But that's a spinoff.

Irl, I don't think many people are getting out of paying maaser.
We've had a special Masser account since dhs paycheck wasn't paper anymore but a wire transfer so it can be split easily. Before it was hard keeping track of it. But not too crazy. But if felt like another chore. (As it was!) But now it's practically automatically. And it also automatically goes out of the account too....

amother

Aster

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 8:37 am

amother OP wrote:

Whenever anyone posts about their financial difficulties, if they are giving maaser or chomesh (10% or 20% to tzedakah) it always gets jumped on.

Why?

People post about their $4,000 mortgages and $600 car leases and $3,000 food budgets and nobody blinks, but if chas veshalom we are giving a percentage of our income to keep other Jews afloat, better get a heter to get out of that?

Women post about spending for Shabbos because Hashem pays you back, but tzedakah (which has an explicit guarantee for the same) is looked down upon?

Why is it not seen as a mitzvah, if not an obligation, and something that brings bracha from Hashem?

Why can people not fathom that for some, it's as non-negotiable as therapy?

Why are people focused on honesty with taxes, but chas veshalom to give our "tax" to Hashem?

Isn't it obvious that if everyone would give maaser or chomesh, we'd have fewer desperate families? That if each of us would stretch to give to those less fortunate than us, we'd all benefit?

I understand some Rabbonim say it's entirely optional, or that you can get out of it with tuition, or that if you're poor you're exempt. But why is getting out of it viewed as praiseworthy?

Please educate me.

Also...

You must have not been on imamother for long.

You'd better believe that if someone posts about their $4000 mortgages and $600 car leases and $3000 food budgets here on this site they are literally attacked. (And cleaning help, and eating out.... etc etc etc).

amother

Clover

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 8:38 am

amother OP wrote:

First, I absolutely admire those who are able to work their finances to make chomesh work.

But here are my thoughts about it. When we take spiritual actions, it is not supposed to impact others negatively. If it's not affordable, and giving chomesh impacts your children and the ability to pay your tuition and bills, then is it commendable? It's actually confusing priorities. Our first obligation is to our family and to those whom we owe money too. Only then, if you can afford it, should one consider chomesh..

Emunah can equally be believing that Hashem does not want you to do chomesh now. If you really want to do it, and you can’t do it with your current income, one can have emunah that this is the position that Hashem wants you to be in now. Accepting it, even though you want otherwise is just as much emunah as having emunah in the chomesh concept of good returns.

amother

Snowdrop

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 8:39 am

We learned on school that whenever something is a mitzvah, the Yetzer Horah is involved and tries to stop us.

There was this discussion on another thread about masser and someone posted a link that explains this inyan it very nicely https://godtorahisrael.com/tzedaka-to-riches/

Also someone here mentioned the beautiful podcast on masser. I heard one by kosher money on Living Lechaim I spent a lot of time now searching for it can't it. I came across this one it hason masser so I'll post

synthy

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 8:46 am

I learned that the mitzvah of masser is to prevent people from giving too much tzedaka. Chomesh for the wealthy ones. I’m not c”v hating on anyone giving masser, I just think that giving beyond your means is misguided. What are you gonna do, give a chomesh and then get food from a tzedaka org?

Personally, we were told to take down masser after deducting rent and utilities from my net pay. We just wouldn’t be able to pay rent otherwise…

synthy

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 8:50 am

amother Ultramarine wrote:

I will say, I know someone who was told by a gadol to start giving chomesh as a zchus for something. They weren’t very well off when they started (tho they could technically afford it) and it didn’t take long for them to make a lot of money.

amother

Marigold

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 10:16 am

amother Snowdrop wrote:

Here’s the living lchaim episode on maaser -

He speaks in the video about how if you can’t afford to give maaser, calculating and tracking the amount of maaser still gives you part of the zchus. I can’t afford to give maaser but I track the amount I need to give on a spreadsheet.