[Avodah] Tzedakah: Giving to an organization vs. giving privately

[Moshe Y. Gluck]

R' MB:
Where should tzedaqah go -- is it better to give to established
institutions, which have more skill at using the money, but you end up
paying for that skill, or to private individuals?

Perhaps it depends on which aspect of our relationship to HQBH we are
trying to emulate.

Emulating the Adon Olam would be working wholesale, and thus push more
toward supporting communal institutions.
Emulating Chai Goali would be having a personal stake in an individual,
and therefore push toward the matan beseiser in the mail-slot kind
of giving.

What do you think? A valid take-home lesson from Adon Olam? No?
----------------

R' MB raises an interesting point. I think, that if we're taking Adon Olam
as being instructive in this regard, that one should go with the mail-slot
drop. 
I see Adon Olam as beginning with Hashem's grandeur, only in order to come
to the "V'hu Ei-li V'chai Go'ali" part. Going back a step, the goal in life
is to be Shaleim, and the way to do that is to be Daveik in Hashem (Ayin
Mesillas Yesharim Perek 1). But in order to see the RBSO as the Chai Go'ali
and fulfill being Daveik in Hashem, one first has to see the RBSO as the
M'lo Kol Ha'aretz Kvodo, as the Rambam says in Yesodei HaTorah 2:2 in
relation to Ahavas Hashem. Only afterwards can he come to Ahavas Hashem,
which is, by definition, Dveikus B'Hashem.
So Adon Olam follows that structure. It starts off by focusing on the macro
and finishes on the micro - Hashem as Ruler of the universe, and Hashem as
Guardian on _my_ (not _one's_) soul. After Adon Olam, one should feel Ahavah
to Hashem. (And what better way of starting off Shacharis and the day than
that?)
So if our ultimate goal is to be Daveik B'Hashem, and the way we do that is
to love him, and the way we do that is to feel his closeness to us, that He
is the Chai Go'ali (being personally involved in our lives), then the way to
fulfill V'Halachta B'drachav with Tzedakkah is to personally be involved
with the Ani (pauper, not 'I'), just as Hashem is personally involved with
us. (See also Tomer Devorah 1:3.)

(ccing eVaad 1 and eVaad 2. BTW, there are openings now if anyone wants to
join one of the existing Ve'adim.)

KT,
MYG