Is giving used clothing to the gemach considered ma'aser?

Elfrida

Wed, Jun 16 2021, 3:01 pm

I was sorting out some clothes for the gemach today when a friend came round. She commented that she likes giving things to the gemach, because then she can take the value off her ma'aser. I'd never heard of such a concept. Do people do this?

If I buy a garment, then wear it for some time, I've got my money's worth out of it. Assuming it is still in good condition, I then pass it on to the gemach for someone else to benefit. Why would I then reclaim the money I spent on it and call it tzedakah?

Sometimes there is a bad impulse purchase that gets passed on to the gemach virtually unworn. Even then, it never occured to me that this would be ma'aser. Interested to hear other opinions.

zaq

Wed, Jun 16 2021, 3:40 pm

Elfrida wrote:

I never heard of this, either, but BH I can afford to give maaser in cash.Maybe for someone in a real financial bind deducting this from maaser would be permitted. The big question, if this is permissible, is who judges the value of the clothes? Since maaser is an actual monetary sum, but tzedaka is not, I'd be willing to wager that the clothing could not be considered maaser but might be considered tzedaka.

AYLOR.

ddmom

Wed, Jun 16 2021, 4:30 pm

The clothes have no value until they're sold/used, no?
If it's sitting in a garbage bag in a garage somewhere I don't see how it's considered tzedakka!
(I think the idea comes from "tax deductible donations"! LOL

)

dankbar

Wed, Jun 16 2021, 11:31 pm

What is the value after worn/used? It's not same value anymore as original purchase price? One being that it was used already & two in fashion world next season it is worthless if it's not the current thing trending at moment.
Even in retail, at end of season they must go down on price drastically, sometimes even lower than wholesale price they bought it at.
Another thing, recipient won't be paying anymore original price, if they buy from a gemach, it is minimal price or gemach distributes for free so how can you assess monetary value?
If it would still sell for original price, they would never buy it if it's outdated. Only because it sells for $5 instead of $100 are people buying it.

ora_43

Thu, Jun 17 2021, 1:13 am

I'd never heard of that.

I just looked it up, and apparently it can be calculated that way - but only using the current value, not the original value. After all, you're not donating a $50 shirt to the gemach, you're donating a shirt that was once $50 and then was worn for two years and now is worth maybe $5. So - a $5 shirt.

Personally, I wouldn't normally subtract that unless I had to, because 1. the actual value to me of the used clothing I donate is $0, 2. used clothes aren't as helpful to a recipient as cash (b/c not fungible).

But OTOH I can see a situation where this would be the ideal way to give. Like, let's say someone is saving lots of nice designer clothes in case she has another baby, but then her neighbor has a house fire and loses all of her nice children's clothes, and she gives the neighbor the clothes. In that case the giver has given up something that was worth money to her, and helped her neighbor by saving her the effort of all that shopping. So then that's a very nice thing to do, nicer than giving cash even, and taking it off maaser makes sense.

Zeleze

Thu, Jun 17 2021, 1:35 am

Just thinking, if its in a sutuation that you yourself would'nt use it anymore or would throw it in the trash, just giving it away as to calm myour soul that your a person doing Chesed, then can't imagine it's called Tzedokeh (lik giving a carton of milk that the date has passed but still smells good would not be called a Mitzvah)

Maybe ask a Rav

Elfrida

Thu, Jun 17 2021, 2:44 am

ora_43 wrote:

So, two years ago I bought a pair of shoes on sale for thirty pounds. I don't know what the original price was. They are the kind of boring classic shoes that were never fashionable enough in the first place to ever go out of fashion. I wore them once, and slipped and broke my arm. The shoes may or may not have been culpable, but I've never felt confident wearing them again. Yesterday I decided to give on on ever wearing them, and put them in the gemach bag. They are a two year old pair of effectively unworn, good quality shoes. The gemach will probably sell them for about 20 NIS.

If I was trying to put a price on them to reduce it from my ma'aser (which I'm not), how would I go about it?
Original (unknown) price?
Sale price (which I paid)?
Gemach price?
Some kind of average of the three?

imasinger

Thu, Jun 17 2021, 3:02 am

If I wanted to count clothing donations, I'd probably use the same standard as for tax deductible counting.

Basic policy -- item in very good or excellent condition is now worth 1/10 of what it cost when new.

However, if it's out of fashion, worn/ripped, or if it's old enough not to be of interest to most people (VCR tapes or the like), it can't be counted at all.

There are a few things which increase in value over time, but people don't tend to donate them.

ora_43

Thu, Jun 17 2021, 3:53 am

Elfrida wrote:

If I was trying to put a price on them to reduce it from my ma'aser (which I'm not), how would I go about it?
Original (unknown) price?
Sale price (which I paid)?
Gemach price?
Some kind of average of the three?

Gemach price.

Elfrida

Thu, Jun 17 2021, 4:26 am

ora_43 wrote:

Gemach price.

Good thing I wasn't looking to save any money on them in that case. Wink

From her attitude I don't think this is how my friend does it, but I'm not going after that.

realtalk

Tue, Aug 22 2023, 3:02 pm

I know someone who was told it's ok to do this for donating her wedding dress to a rental gemach rather than selling it. Not sure how if it would've been the same answer for a bag of miscellaneous clothes.

Cheiny

Tue, Aug 22 2023, 3:05 pm

Elfrida wrote:

To me, if it has so little value to them that they’re ready to give it away, I can’t imagine that qualifies as maaser which should be 10% of income, not of stuff you don’t need and you’re giving away anyway, but maybe I’m wrong. I guess only a Rov can answer.

Spaghetti7

Wed, Aug 23 2023, 12:22 am

This sounds so incredibly complicated. I've never heard of it. Giving to a gemach clothing that you no longer need is just the reasonable and correct thing to do.
Giving maaser is a separate mitzva.