Do the Tax-exempt Donations to the Poor Repay in Heaven?
According to Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, Maimonides, the sacrifices have no intrinsic value in the Temple service. They are part of a legal procedures, which do not benefit the Eternal but humans, for nothing that men do has an effect on Him. But what men do can affect others. And the Eternal does not look at what is offered but rather who offers it. Thus, the Torah concept of charity differs greatly from the world notion of it. When gentiles give, they see charity as a kind act, in which what is given is regarded as something that truly belongs to the giver. Thus, they give out of kindness. In such an act of kindness, the givers merit praise for their generosity, and as we see below, they indeed receive such merits. The Torah concept of charity however is very different. The Hebraic culture, the concept of charity is based on righteousness and not on the generosity of the giver. The Torah commands us to give, which is in direct contrast to the world view of charity. Torah does not seem to concern itself with tax-exempt donations, for 3,300 years ago it was not an issue. But is it so? We will now explain, as it may create misunderstanding, because there is not much discussion about this subject.
Rav said: Anyone who visits the ill is spared from the judgment of Gehenna, as it is stated: “Blessed is he who considers the poor; The Eternal does deliver him in a day of evil. (Psalm 41:1)”
There are two kinds of giving: (1) material giving, when the giver gives away his resources to charities, and (2) immaterial giving, when the giver, i.e., a teacher, gives away knowledge and understanding to his students. In the former case, his resources are being depleted, because he sacrifices what he has. In the latter case, however, there is no loss. When a person teaches, his own knowledge is not diminished; on the contrary, it may even enhance. To understand this kind of giving, let the light of a candle serve as an example. A candle’s light is not diminished when it is used to light another candle, as taught in Midrash Tanchuma Beha’alothecha. In the material giving, because there is a loss, people tend to seek way to compensate their loss. In the case of the light of a candle, one should not seek compensation at all. This does not require a lengthy exposition, for it is all explained in our commentary in various places.
The Hebrew word צְדָקָה tsedakah, “righteousness”, is used in the Tanach to mean both “justice” and “righteousness”. This Hebrew word thus teaches that doing justice is reckoned as righteousness, and righteousness is always just. In modern Hebrew, the word צְדָקָה tsedakah, is used also to refer to “charity”. This teaches that the act of giving to those who are less fortunate is not to be seen only as kindness, but rather, it is a primary act of justice and righteousness: a duty expected of everyone, rich and poor. The noun צְדָקָה tsedakah is derived from the verb צָדַק tsadak, which means to be made right in a moral or legal sense, to be justified. Here is the place to clarify that when Torah speaks of the poor, it does not mean people who are poor because they are lazy to labor. Such people are poor because of their lifestyle which is a matter of choice.
“You cannot give your mind to meditating on truth when you are hungry or thirsty, homeless, or sick.” Maimonides
Why does Torah command us to give to the fatherless, the widow, the sick, and the poor? The reader who is acquainted with the Torah will succeed in finding these texts. The reason is twofold. We may best understand what the Torah has in mind by recalling that man is commanded to give charity, because all he has is given to him from the Eternal in the first place, and whoever sees property, as if he has merits and somehow, he deserves it, is guilty of stealing from the Giver. Secondly, we are commanded to love our fellow as ourselves. And what would a greater love be than to give voluntarily to those who may desperately need help. Yeshua said it very well that there were two great commandments in the Torah: to love the Eternal, this is the first, and the second is like it, namely, to love our fellow as ourselves. Yeshua was not the first to condense all 613 commands of the Torah down into two. It was Hillel. An unprejudiced commentator must admit that one quoted the other, but they both quote Torah, namely, Leviticus 19:18.
Hillel was one of the most influential sages during the end of the first century BCE and the beginning of the first century CE. He was famous for his patient and tolerant manner. He taught: “What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbor. The rest of the Torah is just commentary”. The early Sages thus teach that the greater of the two is to love our fellow. And indeed, if one does not love his poor fellow by helping him, great efforts will be required to persuade someone in heaven that he loves God.
He who shows favor to the poor lends to the Eternal, and He repays his deed. (Pro 19:17)
The Torah specifically states that offerings are not to come from the hand of someone else (see Lev 22:25). This teaching contains two prohibitions. First, we are forbidden to bring as an offering that which does not come from our own labor. i.e., it is prohibited to offer someone else’s animal as though it were our own sacrifice. Nowadays, it can be likened to the use of credit cards to make donations. Also forbidden by this prohibition is letting someone else to make an offering on our behalf. Our donations must come at our cost only and from our own hands, and there is a good reason for this, for it was said,
When the poor stand at your door, remember that their Maker stands at their right hand and consider it a high privilege for you to help them. Levitticus Rabba
We now return to explain what we commenced in the beginning. In some western countries (the U.S., the U.K., Canada), the governments allow the givers to charities to claim the donations they make in their tax filing; this is the so-called “tax-exempt” status granted to them. When the givers have made donations, they can file them for exemption (a deduction allowed to a taxpayer because of his status legislated by law). What it means is that the government returns major part of the money or property given to charity by reducing the claimant’s taxes. Is this proper according to the Torah?
Giving to the fatherless, the widow, the sick, and the poor has a twofold purpose. First, the giver has to sacrifice something from himself, that is to say, he has to suffer a loss. For this reason, it is instituted in Torah the command to bring in the Temple the best of the produce of the land and flocks, unblemished offerings, pleasing sacrifices for the Eternal. When one gives away the most precious fruits of his labor, only then he truly understands why the laws of sacrifices and contributions are instituted. The second purpose of the donations is to help those in need. The recipient receives help, but if the giver rushes to the authority at the end of the tax year to receives his money back, what has he sacrificed? What the giver has sacrificed, the government has returned it to him. It is the government therefore that gives. The giver receives his merits from the government but has forfeited the merits in heaven.
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