[Avodah] timtum halev

[Zev Sero]

Eli Turkel wrote:
> Some have held that one gets a reward for good intentions (against the Kuzari)
> IMHO one exception would be charity.
> If one gives charity to an imposter who is not poor it would seem that he has
> not accomplished the mitzvah

And vice versa: if one loses money and a poor person finds it, one gets
the mitzvah no matter how bitterly one lamented the loss.

Micha Berger wrote:
>: If one gives charity to an imposter who is not poor it would seem that he has
>: not accomplished the mitzvah

> Why not?
> He hasn't improved the world outside him, but he did improve his soul.

See gemara Bava Basra 8b and forward.  If one gave tzedaka to the gabai
and he gave it to aniyei akum, one gets no mitzvah and no sechar.

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher