[Avodah] I am calling for ...

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 06:06:51PM -0400, Rich, Joel wrote:
: AIUI R'HS has said 2/3 local, 1/3 other with local defined by your
: relationship not just geography.

Yes, someone pointed the chevrah to an MP3 on which RHS advises
this.

On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 05:11:09AM -0400, Prof. Levine wrote:
: The following was sent to me by
:     Dr. med. J. Sternbuch
:     Switzerland
...
: I remember that years ago I approached our Godol here in Zurich, R. Moshe
: Soloveitchik ztl (a cousin of the Bostoner Rav)...
: His answer was unexpected and showed his insight into the human psyche. He
: told me that the local Rabbonim should not do that. Because this will
: give people a pretext not to give to either place, neither locally nor
: abroad. My interpretation: if you get used to say NO to Zedoko requests,
: you will use this word also locally. And then you will use such a
: recommendation as pretext to say no. You should always give, but with a
: very clear preference to local and known causes....

I raised a related objection when hearing RHS's formula. This isn't
a zero-sum game; meaning -- it's not like every sheqel I don't give X
means a sheqel goes to Y. A person gives more to causes that move him.

If we gives someone an artificial rule that tells them not to give
priority to that tzedaqah which moves him to find that extra few dollars
are available after all, he will end up giving less.

I therefore would read "aniyei irekha qodmin" not as a halachic rule,
but a Mussar one. It's proper to give priority to the people you know. If
you don't feel that way, fix it. But in the meanwhile, give more to the
causes that you are motivated to give to -- that way you will maximize
your generosity.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Never must we think that the Jewish element
micha at aishdas.org        in us could exist without the human element
http://www.aishdas.org   or vice versa.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                     - Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch