The scenario:
Last week while waiting for the NYC subway, a well-dressed woman asked me if I had a spare Metrocard swipe (the Metrocard is a prepaid fare card.) As she did not seem like a beggar, I did not volunteer a ride. I had a hunch that she just didn't want to pay the fare, not that she was too poor to afford it.
To test my thinking, I wanted to see if someone else would offer her a free swipe or was she going to go under the turnstile just as the train would arrive (illegal) and not pay the fare, anyway.
I turned out being correct. No one offered her a ride, but she entered the subway illegally.
I used this as an example of a general rule regarding beggars. Am I allowed to judge or do I have to give tzedkaa to anyone who asks as soon as he asks?
Answer
We see in the Gemara (Kesuvos 68a):
היינו דאמר רבי אלעזר בואו ונחזיק טובה לרמאין שאלמלא הן היינו חוטאין בכל יום שנאמר {דברים טו-ט} וקרא עליך אל ה' והיה בך חטא
Rabbi Eliezer says "let us find some good attribute of liars for if it were not for them we would be sinning every day".
Rashi explains Rabbi Eliezer's statement:
היינו חוטאים: שאנו מעלימין עין מן העניים אבל עכשיו הרמאים גורמים לנו
Because by closing our eyes from the poor we would be sinning everyday, but now with all the liars out there we are forced to.
From this passage of Gemara we see that nowadays there is no obligation to give money to just anyone who asks, especially if many of the panhandlers are known to be liars.
We see from the Gemara that we are allowed to prejudge someone. For the solicitor could be a fraud.
No comments:
Post a Comment