[Avodah] limits of self-sacrifice; shimshon hagibor??

[Harvey Benton]

HB: RYitzchak, 

 
what are the mekoros, delinating the proper bounds (in both time and money) for self-sacrifice.......BTWay, would chabad-shluchim and their life-long tasks of helping other jews (for a panrassa no less) fall under this cagegory??? And what about people who serve in the army (Israeli, or other)  or peace-corps, doctors without borders???etc, would these activies go against the prohibition of giving away more than 20% of one's income to tzedaka, if by working for such an orginiza ti pn one would earn 20% less????
And finally what about war-tine; is one allowed to, or even commended to go beyond the call of dut if one has a family back home that would suffer c"veshalom by some heroic duties>>> hb
RSRH writes

It is permissible to take
compensation for t'ena. So, too, the duty to store lost property without
taking compensation devolves only on someone who has no other employment,
but a person who is employed is not obligated to neglect his
own livelihood without appropriate compensation. These halachos are
deeply characteristic of Jewish law's outlook on the fulfillment of duties
in society.

Jewish law does not subscribe to that extravagant zeal which demands
complete self-abnegation as a general rule in communal life, and
which equates virtue with self-sacrifice. Jewish law does not accept such
a philosophy, because it could never become a universal standard. Indeed,
if it were to be put into practice, it would spell the end of all
social commerce. If such an impracticable ideal were to be accepted as
the standard for everyday 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20090905/b384058f/attachment-0001.htm>