Do you give maaser if you do not have an emergency fund

amother

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 9:44 am

If you do not have a 3 -6 month emergency fund in place do you give maaser. We do not have debt but we literally just make it each month. If you were in that position would still give maaser or rather save that money for emergency fund and then give.

amother

Saddlebrown

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 9:57 am

Yes. Halachically you need to give maaser you can't use it to save for an emergency fund

amother

White

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 9:58 am

I've seen time and again as have others that maaser brings tremendous bracha. It may not make logical sense but its true. The more careful we are with maaser the more we have.

amother

Firethorn

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 10:00 am

amother [ Saddlebrown ] wrote:

Yes. Halachically you need to give maaser you can't use it to save for an emergency fund

Just to clarify - you're saying between the 2 options maaser obviously comes first, right? Not like if I have savings for a house (which we gave maaser on when we earned it) but currently our income is so low we were told not to give maaser - we don't have to give away our savings, correct?

amother

Saddlebrown

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 10:01 am

amother [ Firethorn ] wrote:

Right you have to give on what is coming in, not your savings. If it's so low then like you said for now you don't give.

amother

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 10:03 am

amother [ Firethorn ] wrote:

I have almost exactly a similar situation. I am trying to save up for my kids weddings in the coming 5 years. I am finally in a position where I can throw a couple hundred dollars to an account for this purpose. If I give maaser I am taking from that opportunity and not building up any savings. Like I said I am not in debt but have absolutely no savings for 3-6 months emergency, wedding costs etc.

amother

Bronze

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 10:05 am

amother [ White ] wrote:

I've seen time and again as have others that maaser brings tremendous bracha. It may not make logical sense but its true. The more careful we are with maaser the more we have.

Our income literally doubled when we started giving chomesh (20%). The guy who does our books was so inspired he started giving chomesh too. Maaser is not only a requirement but also a segulah. If you can afford it you should definitely give, it’ll bring much bracha. Hatzlacha!

amother

Obsidian

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 10:05 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I’m in the same boat as u but like the other posters said, maaser brings a lot of Bracha. I really think this is a question for a rav but it def seems like most of the women responding here don’t give up on maaser so they can save.

amother

Snowflake

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 12:06 pm

Our rav said we should not give maaser if we owe people money (obviously working to pay back)

singsong

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 12:14 pm

According to a Rav we asked, we can use maaser toward our tuition bill. It just so happens that tuition exceeds our maaser obligations so we only give more tzedaka if we can at the moment.

doodlesmom

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 12:15 pm

I never viewed maaser as my money to begin with. Working w with that premise it doesn’t matter if we have extra or not a 10th of my money was never mine.
I am just the lucky one to decide who does get it.

amother

Candycane

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 12:18 pm

My husband uses his maaser for tuition. I give mine for other tzedakas. I don’t necessarily agree with him, but it’s not my place to interfere. BH I have seen tremendous bracha in our finances when I myself started being careful with maaser.
ETA: we don’t have a ton in savings at the moment, but if our income continues increasing as it has, I am not worried about the future.

amother

Petunia

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 1:45 pm

I suggest you learn more about the idea of giving maaser and the bracha that it brings into your life. When you look at it from that perspective it's a whole new world.

amother

RosePink

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 2:07 pm

What about if I am already taking from chesed organizations (partially government funded)- many people in my community use the local food pantry, if you are at under 200 percent of federal poverty line you qualify.

DH doesn't like that we take even though we qualify, but he says if we do take from there it's not right to give maaser.

I disagree, the cost of what we take is government subsidized/ community donations of old clothing, etc. Some of it is tzedaka donations as well.

amother

Cognac

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 2:45 pm

amother [ Obsidian ] wrote:

Regarding the bolded, I gave maaser and lost my job. Many rich people give lots of tzedakah and still end up losing all their money. So its very triggering and hurtful to say that maaser brings lots of Bracha or more money when that is not the case for everyone. Wish someone can explain it further as to why people who give maaser lose everything which goes against the philosophy of giving maaser.

English3

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 2:52 pm

amother [ Cognac ] wrote:

My husband quoted yesterday from the gemara that you can test Hashem only on maaser and tzedaka.

amother

Moccasin

Sun, Apr 03 2022, 2:54 pm

Regarding tuition
We were told only for girls. A father is obligated to give his son Torah education so can’t use ma’aser
Was told could for girls bdieved. But even then not for English. Only Hebrew.