Am I Obligated to Respond to Every Tzedakah Solicitation?

Question:

I read that Tzedaka is a mitzvah min Hatorah, and that each time someone asks we are obligated to give.

My question is, if I get solicited through letters in the mail, for example from a yeshiva, do I/my husband have to give? What about online solicitations? I’ve received quite a few requests forwarded to me, by people I know and don’t know. It’s easy to start a funding campaign for anything you want via sites like GoFundMe and Charidy. What is the status of these solicitations?

I understand that Tzedaka is for the poor, and some of these solicitations are for poor people.

Answer:

The obligation to give tzedaka each time someone asks is only if he is asking one person specifically not if it’s a letter which by nature is directed toward many people.

Furthermore, some argue that even if the poor person is going from door to door or approaching the members in shul this doesn’t apply since he is not focusing on one particular individual and knows in advance that he will only receive funds from some of the people. Some also argue that when there are a large amount of beggars it is impossible to accommodate all of them, and therefore one is not obligated to give to each one of them. Others disagree.

Additionally, this only applies if the poor person us collecting for himself and not if someone is collecting on behalf of others such as fundraisers, unless there’s an official fundraiser who has been appointed by the local community rabbinate or through the poor people themselves. In the contemporary situation where there are many different organizations who are self appointed for this purpose this does not apply. This is especially true when there are fundraisers who take very large percentages for themselves and/or there are major overheads for the organization. (Some prefer to give only if there is a rav or beis din testimonial about the truth of the situation.)

Sources:

בדואר – באורח צדקה ע׳ קיז. אבל ראה שו״ת בא״מ ד, צב. ודבריו צ״ב.

במחזר על הפתחים – אהבת צדקה אבידן בשם הגרצ״פ פראנק. שלמי שמחה ע׳ נג. אבל ראה פלא יועץ ערך צדקה. וכ״מ ברמב״ם מתנ״ע ז, ז (וראה רדב״ז שם) שבמחזר על הפתחים איכא עכ״פ משום אל ישוב דך נכלם. (ולגבי דלאו דלא תאמץ – ראה אמ״ב א או״ח יג, ג. העמק דבר ראה טו, ז. באורח צדקה ע’ שנד, בשם בעל שבה״ל).

בגבאי צדקה – ראה שו״ת קול אליהו ב יו״ד יט. דרך אמונה מתנ״ע ז, מח. שלמי שמחה ע׳ נד. ועלהו לא יבול ב ע׳ קיא.

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