[Avodah] Panhandlers In Pizxa Shops, And Elsewhere

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 01:01:14PM -0600, Jay F Shachter wrote:
: Rambam rules, in a passage that is often poorly understood, in Sefer
: Zra`im, Hilkhot Mattnoth `Aniyyim 7:7, that you must give the
: panhandler something.  In 10:19 Rambam makes it clear that God will
: deal with the panhandlers who are not genuinely needy.  God does not
: need us to assist Him in this detection process.

1- In any case, I don't think the Rambam means nachri panhandlers in 7:7.

2- I could also easily distinguish between checking whether
someone needs the money and whether he is likely to use the money
self-destructively. The latter isn't necessarily doing the person
a chessed. Whereas a liar who will spend the money on needs or
less destructive luxury is still happier for the money. Even by the
"yenemz gashmiyus iz bai mir ruchnius -- his physical 'needs' are for
me spiritual" standard, helping someone get harmful drugs isn't helping
his gashmiyus. Helping him buy a better car than I could buy myself is.
Also, the din of dei machsero feeds into this halakhah of 10:19. Yes,
Hashem will judge someone for misrepresenting his need. When it comes to
tzedaqah triage, it meant I gave him more than I would have otherwise.
But if the guy feels such a lack (chisaron) that he's begging for the
money, I would think it's machsero.


...
: I'll tell you whom I do refuse to give money to, and it isn't the
: panhandler in the pizza shop, or on the street.  It's the man with ten
: children who learns in Kollel full time, and who says exactly that
: when he comes into synagog asking for money to support his family.
: He, and not the goyishe addict, is the man who deserves nothing.

3- These two are soseir each other. (And I received many more heated
submissions making the same point. They were rejected; and in fact I
would have preempted this issue by rejecting your first email had I
bothered reading it to the bottom.)

You prejudged the kollel guy. Never mind the fact that you're condemning
someone for holding of a different pesaq than you, one sufficiently
supported to qualify for eilu va'eilu --- or if you want to be really
judgmental, for an honest mistake. Even if the kollelnik thought what
he was doing was wrong, is his "escape" into Torah really worse than
someone who needs to escape life challenges with drugs? Seems to me
this isn't really a dispassionate assessment of "who deserves nothing",
even within your postulates of the halakhos of making spades of Torah.

But as you opened, there is no one who "deservers nothing" (Hil MA 7:7).

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 22nd day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        3 weeks and 1 day in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Chesed sheb'Netzach: Do I take control of the
Fax: (270) 514-1507                 situation for the benefit of others?