[Avodah] the 5th purim mitzva

[Michael Kopinsky]

On 3/1/07, Newman,Saul Z <Saul.Z.Newman at kp.org> wrote:
> it seems very prevalent that in today's time , there is now an apparant 5th
> mitzva, being tzedaka for every mossad one can think of. i dont remember
> growing up purim being a day for collecting for yeshivahs, hatzala, etc  it
> WAS a mitzva to give for matanot leaniyim, a bo-bayom mitzva, geared for
> providing for the aniyim's need for the day.
> i wonder was it always a general every-tzedaka-under-the-sun day, or did
> this just become something for shtik-oriented teenagers to do to while away
> the time. maybe it just took longer for the practice to get to the west.
> am i wrong?
>

Maybe this comes from "Ein medakd'kin b'maos Purim, ela kol mi sheposheit
yado litol nosnim lo."  Nowadays, this "ein medakd'kin" has been extended
to not even caring what kind of tzedaka they want it for.  (Obviously,
this isn't a halachic explanation, but rather a possible explanation of a
phenomenon.)