I’ve had several occasions of telemarketter type calls considering my wallet which they imagine bigger than it is part of the caller’s local community.

When looking into the great intention behind the organization that called to provide a wonderful service, it was disheartening to find that with no local (to me) organization that provides that service, to hear flat out that they only service their local community. That those in my community with the very same need they are raising funds to serve won’t be serviced because they are not considered local.

And this was well before the latest financial worsenings.

- What’s your evidence that the end of golus America is drawing to a close now any more than you would have thought during the crushing depression of the 30’s or the anxious war time of the 40’s?

It really has nothing to do with the topic of the article, which was about how to allocate resources that are earmarked for tzedakah. How to allocate MORE resources for tzdakah is a seperate issue.

Will the sky fall in on someone who dares not to be ostentatious? People without the resources or desire to overspend on luxuries (items or events) should have the self-confidence to do what’s right regardless of what others do. We can change our own behavior as needed.

But I know people who do not listen to this; they have Vorts in addition to expensive weddings and Sheva Brachahs.

They enjoy kvelling and socializing, and if less affluent Jews can not keep up with that standard, they seem to not care about that.

“With all due and enormous kavod to the Rabbanim in town here, perhaps takanos to spend less would have a lot more long term benefit then takanos to keep tzedaka local.”

Do you really need rabbanim to tell you to spend within your means? Must they do that as well or is that something that we can figure out on our own?

The job of rabbanim is not to ensure that you do that which is common sense. It is to assist those who have difficulty understanding what the Torah wants from us in specific situations have a clearer view. In regards to tzedaka, there is alot of pressure from many sides to support all sorts of tzedakos, many of which are very worthy. Ultimately, especially in difficult times, this is not possible so they offered guidelines that one can feel comfortable following and not experience the guilt that often accompanies a refusal. Any more than that is superfluous and opens them to criticism.

- If you want to pull the halachah card, you have to deal with the complicated (and often problematic for toshavei chu”l) halachic issue of the Baltimore baal habayit’s right to be living there in the first place. Devoting a significant chunk of tzedakah money to EY because you love EY shouldn;t be worse than devoting it to a beutiful etrog or 8 full days of shmurah matzah – which no one here has questioned.

I see comments like this and I see red. R’ Chaim Fisher, WADR, you haven’t the slightest idea what is involved living an ehrliche life in the US. You and far too many of your E”Y compatriots have constructed a grotesque, elaborate caricature of how Americans live. The reality is that the doctor, lawyer or businessman who makes $250k+++ a year is not nearly as common as you think. The vast majority of Orthodox subsist on but a fraction of that.

Please do not paint all goyim by the same brush. It is simply not true. Most Americans are moderate or conservative in their values and do not live a lavish life style. Very educated women in my church, have given up the idea of having a career that pays well to ease financial burdens. Instead, they are stay-at-home moms who often home school their children, chose which activities are appropriate for young minds, teach their children by example, look for activities that are creative but not costly that do not include a lot of TV or movies…but, rather family. And yes, these parents give up much so that their children can go to college and get a good start in life. There are many temptations in the world today….but, a godly parent is worth their weight in gold.

Ori: Exactly. Furthermore, unless you’re going to rely on miracles, the Jewish people cannot afford for all the Jewish lawyers in Baltimore to become full time Torah learners.

If Leizer Lawyer needs to spend 47% of his income having a lifestyle that would work for keeping his job, and another 47% paying tuition for his kids, that leaves only 6% for charity. But it’s still more than the nothing he’d be able to donate if he moved to Israel. Leizer doesn’t know Israel law, and does not have a license to practice law in Israel.

Tough economic times mean that there is less Tzedakah money to go around. I don’t see how this could translate in the Israeli Charedi community to anything other than less Torah learning. Maybe it would be possible for Leizer Lawyer to oursource some paralegal work to former Kollel students whose Talmudic study taught them logic, assuming their English is up to it.

With all due and enormous kavod to the Rabbanim in town here, perhaps takanos to spend less would have a lot more long term benefit then takanos to keep tzedaka local.

I apologize for the tone of the previous email. I misread your intent a little.

The point I’m making is that it is impossible to dance in all the chassanas at once: to match the living standard of the goyish American middle class and still take out of one’s income enormous sums of money for education which the goyim don’t have to take out of their paychecks, and hold down a serious learning seder, which the goyim don’t have to do, and still meet those same gentile outrageously high standards for cars, private home, clothes, restaurants, and so on. As I said, ‘they don’t have any choice.’

A lawyer in Baltimore cannot move his family into a dumpy three bedroom apartment and ride a bike to work so he can keep up a huge learning seder and pay all the schar limud and tell his family it’s all for Torah. He’ll be out of a job. Something’s gotta give.

As things stand now, private schools have no realistic chance of surviving, as they simply cannot compete for funds with government-run schools, who have the advantage of getting taxpayers money. As a result, those heroic parents who send their children to private school, have to pay for education twice: once for their own children, and then for some stranger’s children who may not even value education in the first place.

But nothing brings out cost-effectivness like the competition of the free market. If all schools had no other funds at their disposal other than what they receive from private funds, they would be forced to produce the best product for the least expensive price. But if things continue as they are, government schools will continue to take huge chunks of our tax money, to produce a truly rotten product, while private schools continue to struggle for survival despite producing far superior results.

i don’t understand orthonomics; it is trans-rational, and therefore enters the nes category….

R’ Chaim, agav, is absolutely assur for people that live in Eretz Yisroel to complain.

You are living below the poverty live but k’nireh you can afford a PC and a web connection. I don’t have that at home. Nearly every yeshiva student in Eretz Yisroel has a Borsalino and a cell phone. I don’t have those things. You learn and teach Torah. Ashrecha! Do you receive a stipend or modest pay check that comes, at least in part, from American tzedakah money? If so, you need to make a very, very careful cheshbon as to whether it is really the right thing for you to indulge in owning a computer, as it is clearly not a life necessity.

You certainly believe that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going to give you parnassa, so what do you care if Baltimore takes care of its own people first? Aderaba, as a ben Torah, you should be thrilled to see a kehilla committed to keeping the Shulchan Aruch. Don’t you agree with me?