Bracha when giving maaser or chomesh

amother

Thu, Jan 25 2024, 2:19 pm

People mention seeing bracha in parnassah when they start being serious about maaser or when they decide to give chomesh, 20%.
What does this mean?
If you fit into this category, can you explain?
Did you not give masser at all? And then started separating? And what type of bracha- suddenly more money flooded in?

amother

Hydrangea

Thu, Jan 25 2024, 2:22 pm

Op, if you don't mind me adding, is it guaranteed? Meaning I'm sure their are people that give a chomesh and saw bracha. Are there people that give a chomesh and don't see bracha?

There's plenty of people that don't give maaser and see financial success.

amother

Firethorn

Thu, Jan 25 2024, 2:29 pm

We used to give maaser but did not keep track so we never knew exactly how much we actually gave. Until we decided to be more careful and specifically give a chomesh. Saw immense Bacha financially since then
My DH had been struggling on and off w unemployment for a long time, and once we started giving a chomesh something completely out of the blue came up for him and someone offered him an entire business, complete with clients and all where he's not only his own boss but earns a beautiful amount bh. Its a major help for this person since he refers his existing clients to my dh and it keeps them happy. This is not something my dh would hv ever come up with on his own or dreamt of.
As for me, I got a significant raise without asking for it BH.

amother

Azure

Thu, Jan 25 2024, 2:33 pm

amother OP wrote:

Ok, I will bite. I am part of generational inheritance (think generations back that bought property in NY and FL) where I get small distributions on a quarterly basis. This is through real estate. The last year or two it seemed to have been dropping in amount. We rely significantly on this distribution to hold us off. I actually started a thread about maaser and about a month ago and decided to go all in and just do it. BH our January distribution was thousands more than it has ever been from around 7k to 14k. I am not involved in the business at all and maybe more tenants paid or buildings sold but I'd like to believe it was because of the maaser.

amother

Diamond

Thu, Jan 25 2024, 2:37 pm

I'm giving maaser. Since I re-started it after a pause of several years, my savings have steadily increased, sometimes a bit against logic. No great surprises, just a slow but steady increase.
On the other hand, I can't prove it or nail it down, but I feel that whenever I let the maaser slide and neglect it or delay it too much, some unexpected expense or damage hits me. I call it Hashem's little reminders.

amother

Diamond

Thu, Jan 25 2024, 2:40 pm

amother Apricot wrote:

I have a ton of debt but I want this Bracha too. We aren’t making it month to month. Am I allowed to give if I am in debt?

That's a question for a rav who understands from these issues. It might be that you have to pay the debts first.

amother

Apricot

Thu, Jan 25 2024, 2:44 pm

amother Diamond wrote:

That's a question for a rav who understands from these issues. It might be that you have to pay the debts first.

But I can’t pay the debts right now, or paying really slowly. Throwing everything at them. So this is only a Bracha For people who are already financially stable?

amother

Diamond

Thu, Jan 25 2024, 2:45 pm

amother Apricot wrote:

But I can’t pay the debts right now, or paying really slowly. Throwing everything at them. So this is only a Bracha For people who are already financially stable?

Well, that's why you ought to ask a rav, imho. I'm not one and don't know the answer.

amother

Hydrangea

Thu, Jan 25 2024, 2:50 pm

I'm happy for the success stories, but I don't understand. Why are there tzedakah organizations? Why are there struggling and poor families? Why is there debt?

Why don't these people just give a chomesh? Problem solved.

Why do rabbanim collect money for families that need help? They should instead give a klap on the bimah every week reminding them to give a chomesh.

justforfun87

Thu, Jan 25 2024, 2:55 pm

amother Hydrangea wrote:

These are the posts that remind me that I am very fortunate. In fact I feel I shouldn't daven for more many when so many are without. I don't have an answer. I was told we can "test" Gd with maaser but then we also see so many struggling. So maybe we just want to believe we will be paid back because otherwise it is too hard to give. Who knows.

amother

RosePink

Mon, Feb 12 2024, 11:15 pm

I'm meticulous about Maaser and at times we have seen tremendous bracha. We were BH blessed in able to help many people and organizations.
Lately, all our income streaks have pretty much dried up, we have 3 different sources and each one is another crazy story!
We are in a desperate situation we calculate every penny that I get, even the donations that some kind pope have given we're careful to take off maaser. We can't buy gas or groceries and in pre-foreclosure.
Im so lost!

amother

Mintgreen

Tue, Feb 13 2024, 12:25 am

I was struggling for years until I decided to be careful with Maaser and “prepay” as well. It was tough, but not long after I started I saw immense Bracha in Parnassa in ways I didn’t imagine. Recently I realized things were tighter and then made sure to prepay maaser.

amother

Lily

Tue, Feb 13 2024, 12:34 am

We unfortunately owe a huge amount to our kids school, who is being very kind and not pressuring us to pay it back. We're paying it off extremely slowly, as much as we can at a time. After the ami story I asked a sheila about doing chomesh and was told that it's not allowed to take this on while we still owe so much to the school. So it's not always straightforward.

amother

Tue, Feb 13 2024, 7:09 am

amother Lily wrote:

Not it’s not and I wouldn’t have thought so.
Even taking a chomesh over masser for people without debt is serious.

amother

DarkRed

Tue, Feb 13 2024, 9:10 am

amother Apricot wrote:

I have a ton of debt but I want this Bracha too. We aren’t making it month to month. Am I allowed to give if I am in debt?

I remember hearing that you should take maaser. Then you can give the maaser to yourself if you need the money. It's separating the maaser that needs to be done. Ask your rav to confirm

amother

Salmon

Tue, Feb 13 2024, 9:12 am

We have always been EXTREMELY careful with giving maiser. BH although we have other struggles in life we have never ever had financial struggles. Even in months/years that we expect to be in the red, somehow we always have an abundance of money, sometimes from unexpected places. BH I am now a SAHM and we easily cover all our expenses.

However we have also always taken our hishtadlus in the area of paranasah seriously. We didn’t just give maiser and rely on miracles.
But I believe that the bracha we see from our hishtadlus comes in the zechus of maiser. Literally in just the past few months we have seen multiple windfalls of $20k-$30k EACH, on top of our generous income. Thank you Hashem!!!