Question:

A bag lady accosts me on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and asks me for a quarter. Should I ask her why she doesn't go out and get a job? A schnorer [charity collector] knocks on my door, holds out a letter signed by an eminent rabbi and asks me to contribute to his yeshivah in Jerusalem. Should I check out the letter and the yeshivah? I enter my local Jewish bookstore and see five pushkes [charity boxes] on the counter. Should I automatically put a quarter in each, or should I read the fine print and investigate each charity's legitimacy? Lastly, I receive many direct mail solicitations every month. Should I send a small donation to each, or investigate every charity that asks for money and send a larger contribution to the one that deserves it most?

Responsum:

Jews have been grappling with these dilemmas for at least 2,000 years. On the one hand, most individuals and organizations that ask for our help are legitimate and really do merit our tzedakah. On the other hand, a certain percentage of those who ask for money are charlatans and crooks. 

Some tzedakah experts say that giving is a habit that must be cultivated. Therefore, it is better to give often and spontaneously, even if one is not sure about the credentials of the recipients because, if we stop to think about every contribution, we will get out of the tzedahah habit. Others say we should investigate before we give, because by giving to the wrong people and organizations, we may have technically fulfilled the mitzvah of tzedakah, but we are in fact depriving those who really need our help. ¹ Let us see what Jewish tradition has to say on the subject. 

Surprisingly enough, the rabbinic sources have a basically positive attitude toward beggars. ² Maimonides clearly states: 

Whoever sees a poor person asking [for assistance] and ignores him and does not give him tzedakah has transgressed a negative commandment as it is written "do not harden you heart nor shut your hand against your needy brother" (Deuteronomy 15:7). ³ 

We do not know the talmudic source of this statement, but it is clearly in keeping with the following rabbinic passage: 

Rabbi Abin said: This poor person stands at your door and the Holy One blessed be He stands at his right hand as it is written: "He stands at the right hand of the needy" (Psalms 109:31). (Vayikra Rabbah 34:9) 

On the other hand, other passages recommend kindness to beggars for selfish reasons: "Rabbi Nahman said: This world is like a water wheel ± the bucket that is full empties while the empty becomes filled' " (ibid. and parallels). In other words, you should give to beggars now, because one day down the road the tables may be turned ± the beggar may become wealthy while you may become a beggar. 

Nonetheless, our sages were not blind. They knew that some beggars were frauds and, even if investigated, some would escape detection. Indeed, a number of rabbis were duped by dishonest beggars. Rabbi Hanina, for example,

was accustomed to send four zuz to a certain poor person every Erev Shabbat [Friday]. One time he sent the money with his wife. She returned and said to him, "There is no need... I heard them say to him: On what will you dine ± on the white linen tablecloths or on the dyed silk tablecloths?" ⁴ 

This type of fraud prompted Rabbi Elazar to say: "Come let us be grateful to the cheaters, for were it not for them we [who do not always respond to every appeal for tzedakah] would sin every day". ⁵ 

Other sages were not so forgiving. They resorted to cursing the cheaters in order to discourage fraud. The Mishnah (Pe'ah 8:9), for example, states:

Whoever does not need to take yet takes, will not depart from Responsa in a Moment 52.the world until he will be dependent on others... and whoever is not lame or blind and pretends to be, will not die of old age before he becomes like one of them, as it is written: "He who seeks evil, upon him it shall come" (Proverbs 11:27). ⁶ 

This warning was reiterated in four other places in rabbinic literature ⁷ and was codified in the standard codes of Jewish law. ⁸ 

Yet, despite the fear of possible fraud, none of the sages refrained from giving tzedakah. After all, it is a positive commandment (Deuteronomy 15:7-11) that, according to Rav Assi, is as important as all of the other commandments put together (Bava Batra 9a). Some later rabbis shared the liberal approach of Rabbi Chaim of Tzanz, a nineteenth-century hassidic rabbi: 

I give tzedakah to one hundred poor people on the assumption that I may find one out of a hundred who is worthy and I will have the merit of helping him. But you refrain from giving to one hundred poor people... lest one of them be unworthy. Therefore know that the average beggar who holds out his hand is presumed to need the money and you should not concern yourself with hidden matters. ⁹ 

The talmudic sages, however, were more careful with their tzedahah. They realized that if you give to everyone who asks for money, you ultimately deprive those who really need the money. They therefore took precautions against fraudulent beggars: 

1. Rabbi Sheilah of Naveh made a play on the word "ha'evyon" [a needy person]: "This needy person hav hunakh [beware] of him." In other words, beware of cheaters. (Vayikra Rabbah 34:9) 

2. Rabbi Abbah did not want to embarrass the poor by having to look at them, following the principle of mattan baseter [giving in secret] (Bava Batra 9b and 10b), but he was wary of cheaters. He therefore would wrap the coins in his kerchief and drag it behind him and walk by the houses of the poor, but out of the corner of his eye he looked for cheaters (Ketubot 67b). 

3. There is one talmudic passage that gives explicit advice about avoiding charity fraud: ¹⁰ "Rav Huna said: 'One investigates when asked for food, but not when asked for clothing' ". The Talmud explains that in his opinion, clothing is more urgent than food because it causes the beggar shame and should therefore be supplied, no questions asked. "Rav Yehudah, however, said: One investigates when asked for clothing, but not when asked for food.' " The Talmud explains that in his opinion, lack of food is more urgent than lack of clothing because it causes physical pain and suffering and should therefore be supplied without investigation. The Talmud concludes with a beraita [teaching of the early sages] which supports Rav Yehudah and this latter ruling was codified by the standard codes of Jewish law. ¹¹ 

It seems, then, that the guiding principle was that one waives investigation when faced with an urgent situation of human suffering: A person who asks for food may be in pain and may die. Therefore, you give him the benefit of the doubt and feed him on the spot. But a person who asks for a change of clothes can wait while you check him out. 

Times have changed and beggars no longer ask for food or clothing, but the same principle can be applied: If an emaciated person dressed in rags asks you for a quarter, you should give him the benefit of the doubt. But if a nicely dressed schnorer comes to your door collecting for his yeshivah, you can take down his particulars and send him a check after checking out his legitimacy. No one will starve in the interim. 

All of the sources quoted thus far have dealt with individuals who ask for money. What of organizations that today do most of their solicitation through pushkes or via the mail? How can we determine their legitimacy? The halakhah provides two clear criteria: The trustworthiness of the gabbai or collector - today that means the person who runs the charity - and the financial records of the organization. ¹² 

The Talmud states: A person should not give a penny to the communal charity purse unless it is under the supervision of a person [as honest as] Rabbi Hananyah ben Teradyon (Bava Batra 10b and Avodah Zarah 17b). 

Rabbi Hananyah was chosen as the paradigm because once, when the funds of two different charities became confused, he made up the difference from his own pocket (Avodah Zarah ibid.). The standard codes of Jewish law therefore rule that "a person should only give to a charity fund if he knows that the overseer is trustworthy and wise and knows how to manage it properly". ¹³ In most cases, if the person running the organization is trustworthy, then the organization is trustworthy. People trust Yad Sarah in Jerusalem because they trust Uri Lupoliansky. People trust Hadassah because they trust the women who run it. People trust the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation because they trust Jerry Lewis. 

As for financial records, the Talmud states: "One does not check the records of tzedakah collectors... as it is written [regarding the treasurers of the Temple]: 'for they do their work in good faith' " (II Kings 12:16) (Bava Batra 9a). Maimonides (9:11) and Rabbi Joseph Karo (YD 257:2) simply quote the Talmud. But Rabbi Jacob ben Asher and Rabbi Moshe Isserles have a different approach (Tur and Shulhan Arukh YD, ibid.): 

One does not need to investigate honest collectors. But in order that they be "clean before the Lord and before Israel" (Numbers 32:22), it is good for them to give an accounting. 

They knew what many tzedakah experts stress: Accountability leads to honesty and efficiency. It is hard to cheat when everyone has access to the facts and figures. It is hard to waste money on overhead, when potential donors know exactly how much is being spent on furniture, staff and brochures. 

Thus, according to the halakhah, when you see a pushke or receive a mail solicitation, your first question should be: Do I trust the person running the organization? If you do not know the gabbai or cannot find out enough about him, you should request a copy of the budget in order to check the group's honesty and wastefulness. 

In conclusion, giving tzedakah is good, but giving wisely is even better. As tzedakah expert Danny Siegel writes: 

You are not doing this out of a sense of cynicism. You are protecting your tzedakah dollars, making them stretch as far as they can go to worthy causes... On the one hand, you do not want to give to wasteful organizations... On the other hand, you would not want to withhold useful, perhaps critical, tzedakah money from people who are laboring with love and care to make good things happen in this world. ¹⁴ 

NOTES 

1. For both approaches, see Haim Shapiro, "Duties of the Heart," The Jerusalem Post Magazine, May 3, 1991, pp. 14-17. 
2. See Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. "Begging and Beggars", and Arthur Kurzweil "The Treatment of Beggars in Jewish Tradition," in Gym Shoes and Irises by Danny Siegel, Spring Valley, New York, 1982, pp. 103-117. It should be added that the Bible too extols the virtues of feeding and clothing the poor (e.g. Isaiah 58:7, 10 and Ezekiel 18:7, 16), but it makes no explicit reference to the treatment of beggars. 
3. Gifts to the Poor 7:2. All further references to Maimonides in this responsum refer to this section of his code. For a similar approach, see Vayikra Rabbah 34:9, ed. Margaliot, pp. 791-793. 
4. Ketubot 67b-68a; cf. Vayikra Rabbah 34:10, pp. 793-794 and Yerushalmi Pe'ah 8:9, ed. Venice 21b. 
5. ibid. 
6. The verse from Proverbs is only found in some versions of the Mishnah. 
7. Tosefta Pe'ah 4:14, ed. Lieberman, p. 59; Yerushalmi Pe'ah 8:9, 21b; Bavli Ketubot 68a; and Avot D'rabbi Nattan, Version A, Chapter 3, ed. Schechter, 8a. 
8. Maimonides 10:19; Tur Yoreh De'ah [hereafter: YD] 255; Shulhan Arukh YD 255:2. 
9. Darkei Hayyim, Jerusalem, 1962, p. 137. 
10. Bava Batra 9a; cf. Yerushalmi Pe'ah 8:7, 21a and Vayikra Rabbah 34:14, p. 802. 
11. Maimonides 7:6; Tur YD 251; Shulhan Arukh YD 251:10. 
12. These are the same criteria stressed by Danny Siegel in "Which Tzedakah Should You Send Checks To? Ten Steps to Making an Intelligent Decision," Baltimore Jewish Times, Feb. 8, 1991, pp. 3, 10. 
13. Maimonides 10:8 and cf. 9:1; Tur YD 256; Shulhan Arukh YD 256:1; Rashi to Pesahim 49b, catchword gabba'ei tzedakah. 
14. Siegel, "Which Tzedakah". For a similar approach, see Dr. Eliezer Jaffe, Giving Wisely, Jerusalem, 1982, p. 27. For other discussions of this topic, see Barry Holtz, Finding Our Way: Jewish Texts and the Lives We Live Today, New York, 1990, pp. 170-176; David Assaf in: Moshe Ishon, ed. Itturim... in Honor of Moshe Krone, Jerusalem, 5746, pp. 248-262; R. Naftali Zvi Yehudah Bar-Ilan, Sefer Nikdash Bitzdakah, Rehovot, 5751, pp. 201-210; R. Yonah Metzger, Miyam Hahalakhah, Vol. 4, Tel Aviv, 5753, No. 79.