Hashem said so.
In Malachi chapter 3 pasik 10 the Nuvi states:
הביאו את כל המעשר אל בית האוצר ויהי טרף בביתי ובחנוני נא בזאת אמר יהוה צבאות אם לא אפתח לכם את ארבות השמים והריקתי לכם ברכה עד בלי די
Bring the whole of the tithes into the treasury so that there may be nourishment in My House, and test Me now therewith, says the Lord of Hosts, [to see] if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour down for you blessings until there be no room to suffice for it.
For years, I was wondering why giving 10% maser from our income is such a great mitzvah and where Hashem promises us such a great reward in this world that we will be so blessed with riches until we say enough. Furthermore, it is the ONLY mitzvah which Hashem said ובחנוני “you can test me.” Otherwise, testing Hashem is a sin.
Why is this so? Hashem is the One who gave us the money in the first place. He provided us with an income. Yet Hashem promises us if we give 10% for His sake to the destitute, widows, and orphans without getting anything in return, He will shower us with so many blessings עד בלי די “until we will say enough.”
What is about the Mitzvah of charity that leads to such great reward, which we have seen so clearly to be the case for those giving charity Lashem Shumayim (for His sake).
I heard an amazing parable (משל) by Rabbi Bentzion Gips which clarifies this mitzvah so beautifully:
There was a group of people sitting at a table when a man we will call Mr. Schwartz took out money and asked the person next to him who we will call Mr. Brown to pass it down to the last man at the table to repay a debt he owes.
Scenario #1
Mr. Brown took the money and placed it into his own pocket. Mr. Schwartz immediately questioned him, to which Mr. Brown replied: “you gave me the money, it now is my money.”
Scenario #2
Mr. Brown takes the money he was handed and gives it over to the next person, they all pass it down to the rightful owner.
What was different in the two scenarios above? In #1, Mr. Brown felt that because the money was handed to him, he was the owner of it. In #2, he understood that he was given the money for a specific task, which he was happy to do.
Specifically, in the Mitzvah of Tzedukah, you can test your own Emunah to see if you are a person who is connected to Hashem or not.
If you feel כוחי ועוצם ידי, I “earned the money” it is all my money,” then you put it all in your pocket, and you will not want to pass it on, or you will feel that you are losing money by giving to the poor. In this case, you need to work on your Emunah.
However, if you believe that Hashem is the one providing your livelihood, then you will easily pass the money to the person in need.
It is very important to note:
We are instructed in the Torah to give 10% (which is called maser and must be giving to the destitute) of our earnings to specific causes stated in the Torah. One is also allowed to give away another 10% (which is called tzedakah, this can be given to any charity cause) for a total of 20% of their earnings, but we are not allowed to give away more than this amount.
In the time of the Bais Hamikdash, if a person gave away 100% of any one of his assets to the Bais Hamikdash, it was automatically voided and returned.
ערכין · כח א
מחרים אדם מצאנו ומבקרו ומעבדיו ומשפחותיו הכנענים ומשדה אחוזתו ואם החרים את כולם אינם מוחרמים דברי ר”א א”ר אלעזר בן עזריה מה אם לגבוה אין אדם רשאי להחרים כל נכסיו על אחת כמה וכמה שיהא אדם חס על נכסיו:
It is for the same reason mentioned above that we give charity because Hashem told us to, and if you give more than the 20%, then you are again showing that you are not doing it for Hashem but for your own benefit.
It is very important to separate 10% maser as soon as you get your income / profits (any income in cash, even when it comes in the form of a gift such as from the family or government.)
My father taught me from a young age as soon as I started earning money from babysitting to put maser aside even when I had just a $10 bill and I gave $1 to a charity. Doing this together with my father, other than the wonderful bonding time, left me with a very special feeling for this mitzvah. My father is a giver, and he taught me from a young age to be the same.
Some people will try every סגלה (segulah) out there and any “remedy” they can do to make more money, except for the one thing that Hashem our loving father guarantees us will make us more money.
Think about it this way: If a rich man asked you to please give a poor person 200 shekel, and he promises that he will repay you 400 shekel, will you say to the rich man, “I am sorry, but these 200 shekel were put aside for my phone bill, so I cannot accept your offer” Or would you go to the poor man’s home to hand him the 200 shekel and then wait for the rich man to send you the 400 shekel check in the mail?
What if the rich man promises you a favor in return for you doing so? Wow, this favor can be worth much more than 400 shekel. It can be priceless down the line when you need it.
A smart person is flattered and happy with this deal, knowing that the rich man believes in you, shows you that you are important to him and that he trusts you enough to ask you for assistance while paying you back much more by following his request.
Hashem is greater than the richest man in the world. Hashem did us the greatest chessed by sharing with us His secret to becoming rich and / or having a life that is filled with blessings.
In addition, Hashem gave us the טובות הנאה the satisfaction to choose who we want to give the maser and Tzedukah to. Yes, we have to give the 10% to the poor, but we were awarded the right to chose who we want to give the money to.
Hashem gave the right to each individual to chose which Kohen and Levi they want to give the maser rishon and trima to in the time of the Bait Hamikdah. Even today, at a Pidyan Haben, we have the right to chose which Kohen we want to give the money to.
When you see a man, who is maybe not as learned or as observant as you, who is so blessed, he seems to have it all, check out his charity giving habits, and you will likely see why that is so.
What is Halacha of giving Tzedukah (charity)? The money has to giving to the helpless, such as the poor, widows, orphans, hatzaalah work. We may NOT get ANYTHING in return for the charity.
We may also NOT use charity for anything that we have an obligation to pay for such as tuition, Sukkah, liluv and esrog, ect.
You see many people splurging and even borrowing money to buy lots of good food for Shabbos with the excuse that Hashem repays for the food spent on Shabbos.
See the Gemurah in Mesechas Pesachim one can borrow money to buy one small extra food or drink specifically for Shabbos if done for the right reasons then Hashem will repay you. There is nowhere written that one can splurge or borrow without knowing how they will repay the debt in order to get a great feast for Shabbas.
פסחים · קיב א
תנא דבי אליהו אע”פ שאמר ר”ע עשה שבתך חול ואל תצטרך לבריות אבל עושה הוא דבר מועט בתוך ביתו מאי נינהו אמר רב פפא כסא דהרסנא
Just the opposite, someone who borrows without knowing how he can repay, is called a rushe
מ”ג תהלים לז כא
לוה רשע ולא ישלם
Yet people so often feel comfortable spending on Shabbos food with the reasoning that Hashem will repay it while at the same time they don’t give the 10% maser with the exact same logic that when we give maser, Hashem promised He will repay with abundance of blessings.
This seems to be because for Shabbas they are spending money to buy food for themselves, they are benefitting from the food after all. Yet with Maser, they have to give it away, and they don’t see an immediate return or benefit to them.
Look around, and you will see that people have a very hard time parting with “their” money unless they get something in return such as raffle tickets from which they can win something, a concert or sports ticket for enjoyment, pay their tuition bill or just to hand over a large amount of money to a shul or organization to “buy” respect and honor from others in exchange for the donation.
Why do people have such a hard time parting with money to fulfil this obligation / mitzvah.
We see the answer in the aforementioned story of Mr. Brown. When we lack faith in Hashem, as we think the money is ours, and we think we are losing out by doing His command of giving the money to the poor, we have a hard time giving.
If you give charity, and you don’t yet see the blessing, examine the following:
Was the money earned in a kosher way?
Are you paying your worker and all vendors on time (as the Torah commands).
דברים כד, טו
בְּיוֹמוֹ תִתֵּן שְׂכָרוֹ
Do you have loans outstanding? Maser is given from profit. If you owe money to people, according to Torah, you must return as much money as the business can offered every month to pay off the debt before taking out a profit.
Do you work for a charity organization that is paying you with money meant for the destitute? (there are organizations that are transparent with donors letting them know that their money is for overhead expenses and/or they have separate donors just for overhead cost which is OK).
Was the charity given so you can get a tax credit? If so, you already got something in return and it is not proper maser.
Where is your charity going? One is responsible to do due diligence and make sure that their charity is truly being used properly.
Try this: before giving to the organization, go down to their office if you can, otherwise, call them and act as though you are a person in need and try to get money or services to see how they respond. This way, you know who you are dealing with and what they are all about.
We checked out many organizations, and when going to their address, we found several of them just have signs on the outside of an apartment building, and none of the apartments were their offices. It seems that some are renting the space to put up their sign.
There is one famous office tower used by several worldwide organizations. The building has many small offices. From our investigation, they seem to be used mainly for soliciting donations, but trying to get money from them or actual service is unlikely or very hard to come by. Some will act as advisors or as a directory to direct you to where you can get the service locally.
Other examples:
Case #1- We know of a man who was supporting a kollel. Twice, when we were in that neighborhood during the regular zman, we found the shul empty. No one was learning there, it was open for davening only.
Case #2- we passed an old shul several times, always checking if it was open, but it was always locked and dark inside. After quite some time, one day, we found the shul open with bright lights and bustling with young men learning.
We looked inside and saw a sign welcoming the donor of the kollel. According to the sign, there was supposedly a kollel all these years. Sadly, we checked this place many times since then and it was always locked. The kollel was only open when the donor arrived, and the shul was not even open for a person to be able to sit down to learn if he wanted to.
Donors need to do surprise visits to organizations, kollolim, ect… they support (unless they give the money for tax credit, they want their name on the building for honor or for their portfolio to look good. These are not charity per se, it is more of a business deal.)
Do you squander the riches? Did you invest the money in your house, real estate, stock market, jewelry or other luxury items?
You get the point.
If your money is truly maser, then keep doing what you are doing and the day will come where you will see the blessing in your life until you say “enough.” Just strengthen your Emunah and trust in Hashem as He promised. He will fulfil his promise. Hashem did not give us a timeline for the promise to get fulfilled, and we are not His bookkeeper to know when it will happen, but the blessings will come.
There are some instances where the Torah allows loopholes when it comes to maser: such using grains for animals before bringing into the home.
ברכות · לא א
רבא אמר כי הא דרב הושעיא דאמר רב הושעיא דמערים אדם על תבואתו ומכניסה במוץ שלה כדי שתהא בהמתו אוכלת ופטורה מן המעשר
However, people seem to be looking for all kinds of loopholes to avoid giving maser. Even if one finds a loophole that is correct as a workaround, these people cannot expect to become wealthy as they are known to Hashem as someone who “plays the system” and will find any loophole possible not to give their 10% let alone the 20%.
I once heard a lecture where the Rosh Hakolel said that when getting their monthly checks, some kollel guys take off the 10% and exchange it with another kollel guy, meaning that both of them go home with the full original amount of their paycheck.
This may be a loophole if they are both poor, but it clearly shows a lack of Emunah, a lack of trust that Hashem provides for them and that the 10% was never his in the first place. It is really all Hashem’s money. In addition, they did not give the maser without getting anything in return, as is the halacha since the other guy gave him his maser.
Maser is not a tax, it is a mitzvah. Some people treat maser as a business. They look for any “business expense” and any living expense they can take off from their income in order to give 10% maser from less of their money.
They should understand that they may “save some money” now, but Hashem will certainly not choose them to become wealthy and handle one of His “larger accounts”. These large money accounts with large maser are given to the person who demonstrates that he sees it as a privilege to handle Hashem’s money and gives maser and tzedakah to the right place without getting anything in return for it.
Another very popular and not proper loophole is people using maser money to buy a raffle (let’s say 20 shekel). If they win a prize, they take 20 shekel of their own money and put it back to maser so they can keep the prize.
In Vayikra 27:32-33 it says:
כל־מעשר בקר וצאן כל אשר־יעבר תחת השבט העשירי יהיה־קדש ליהוה
Any tithe of cattle or flock of all that pass under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to the Lord.
לא יבקר בין טוב לרע ולא ימירנו ואם המר ימירנו והיה הוא ותמורתו יהיה קדש לא יגאל
He shall not inspect [a tithed animal] for a good or a bad one, nor shall he offer a substitute for it. And if he does replace it, then [both] that one and its replacement are holy; it cannot be redeemed.
The Torah warns that one should not choose which animal he gives for maaser. Hashem tells us we should just let the animals pass in a single line and whichever animal is the tenth he should put a red mark on it and that one is for maaser.
For example: An evil person may want to choose the worst of his animals and send those out on the line to be the tenth, a righteous person may want to choose all his best animals and send those out on the line, so he can donate his best for Hashem.
Who does the Torah speak to when saying that a person “should not exchange” the maaser animal, who would want to change the maaser animal once designated and why?
If, after giving masser, one of the animals had babies, then all the babies are kodesh. The average person may want to exchange the animal for another one so he can keep the animal with the “profit”, the babies, for himself.
Hashem is warning is against this and said that if you exchange the maaser animal for another one then both, the first and second animals, are now kodesh.
This is the same idea with the money for raffles. One cannot exchange the initial raffle money for other money. If he does so, then both are kodesh and all prize money or gifts are Kodesh. They simply cannot keep the winnings for themselves.
Think of it this way: Mr. Gray wanted to open a business. He went to Mr. Kesef, discussed the deal and asked for an investment of $10,000. Mr. Kesef agreed to the deal and handed over the money. The business was very successful and made a lot of profit.
6 months later, Mr. Kesef came to Mr. Gray and asked for his share of the profits. Mr. Gray took out $10,000 and gave it to Mr. Kesef and said, “here is all your money back, I no longer need it.” Mr. Kesef argued that he did not come for his original investments but rather for the profits which his investment earned, and that it was only because of his investment that Mr. Gray was able to open the business. However, Mr. Gray refused.
This was shocking to Mr. Kesef because if the business had not worked out, the loss would have been Mr. Kesef’s, but now that there is profit, he should be the one benefiting as well.
Instead of fighting the issue, Mr. Kesef just took the $10,000 and left with the strong conviction that he will never invest with Mr. Gray again.
The same is true for us. Maser is Hashem’s money. When you use maser money to buy a raffle, it is Hashem’s money and His investment. If you win a prize with the maser money, the prize belongs to Hashem and you have to hand it over to the destitute.
If you go for the loophole and take another 20 shekel from your own money and hand that over to maser, you are just like Mr. Gray because you did not want to invest your own money and risk losing it in the raffle, but you were OK for maser to take the loss.
Now that you won, you don’t want to share the profits with maser, and you just give Hashem back his original 20 shekel investment, and you take the prize for yourself.
In doing so, you can be sure that Hashem will “cut His losses” and he will not go into business with you again. Yes, He will keep providing for you, but only in the small amounts you proved you can handle.
On Purim, we went to visit a man who we’ll call Mr. Klein, who does not have a lot of money. We witnessed an amazing sight. A man came in and handed Mr. Klein 500 shekel. When the giver left, Mr. Klein, took 50 shekel and placed it on the side, saying this is for maser.
Just a few moments later, a third party took out 50 shekel and handed it over to Mr. Klein. We asked the giver what made him give the 50 shekel. He said he was not planning to do so, but he had a sudden urge to give. When he opened his wallet, he spotted the 50 shekel and handed it over to Mr. Klein.
What a kiddish Hashem. We were given the opportunity to see so clearly that when you give 10% maser, no matter how poor one feels, you will not have less money. This is the word of Hashem.
Mr. Klein explained that giving the maser has a wonderful advantage emotionally as well. Instead of always being “a shnorror”, on the receiving end, and living off his parents or other people’s money, he became a giver as well to people who have less than him.
Imagine this: you earn 1000 shekel, you take off the 100 shekel for maser, you can now give 100 shekel to a poor person who will be overjoyed with such a generous amount.
You can give 50 shekel each to 2 poor people or 10 shekel to 10 people who come collecting in shul. You are now giving out a nice amount of money, and it feels very good to be on the giving end. People may even think you are rich and you will feel blessed.
When Hashem sees how much you enjoy giving out this 100 shekel, he can now trust you with more money.
For too many people, as soon as their income goes up, they raise their expenses, leaving them always feeling at a loss, poor and choked. When you accept Hashem’s will, and you learn to live within the budget that Hashem gave you and always give maser, then you will see the blessing of riches in your life.
