0

While there is a mitzvah to give tzedakah -- as per the Rambam's list

Not to refrain from maintaining a poor man and giving him what he needs (Deut. 15:7)

To give charity according to one's means (Deut. 15:11)

is there a mitzvah to accept it once it is offered to you? If I don't think I need it (or that others need it more), or if I object to the source (money donated by someone whose practices I find incorrect), do I have any obligation to accept it? [and would my refusal take away a giver's fulfilling a mitzvah?]

Certainly if I need the money to survive, a refusal to accept it, putting my health/life in danger, would be a problem and if I reject it publicly, there might be a problem embarrassing a donor but in cases that aren't that extreme is there an obligation, a mitzvah or some other level of expectation?

Community
  • 1
rosends
  • 38,242
  • 6
  • 38
  • 110
  • I'm not quite following why you think that there is any type of mitzvah gained by being the receiver. Unless you're implying "reverse logic". I.e. - it's a mitzvah to give tzedaka, so that implies that the person must receive it otherwise how can you give? So what happens if the person you intend to give it to refuses to accept it - do you get the mitzvah of giving it? – DanF Feb 04 '19 at 23:00
  • @DanF that is at least a half of it. The other is whether there is an independent obligation regardless of its effect on others, simply because there is. – rosends Feb 05 '19 at 00:14
  • Perhaps this is similar to a shliach mitzvah as the person giving the tzedakah cannot fulfill the mitzvah of giving without someone receiving? – Dude Feb 05 '19 at 00:58
  • Practical extension of my question - When you donate to an organization that distributes funds to the needy, at what point do you gain schar mitzvah? What happens if the org. goes out of business or otherwise never distributes the funds? – DanF Feb 05 '19 at 14:57

0 Answers0