Last week, we cited my uncle regarding supporting children from one’s charity funds; he cited many authorities who permit doing so. Yet not all agree.
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The Taz (Yoreh De’ah 249:1), Chavos Ya’ir (cited by Birkei Yosef, ibid. 249:18), and Aruch HaShulchan (ibid. 249:7) prohibit supporting one’s children with one’s charity funds. Even the Birkei Yosef who claims it is permitted discourages one from doing so. Why? Ma’aser Kesafim – charity tithes – is patterned after the classical ma’aser of the Torah. Just as money of ma’aser sheni cannot be used to purchase a required sacrifice (Beitzah 19b-20a) or pay off a debt, so too ma’aser kesafim cannot be used for a required (unrelated) expense.
Although a person is not legally compelled to support his children over the age of six, he nevertheless feels bound to do so. He loves his children and wishes to support them; neighbors would talk against him if he abandoned his own children; the government forces him to provide child-support. The Birkei Yosef therefore concludes that a person should not use ma’aser kesafim to satisfy his the semi-legal obligation to support his children. Furthermore, the Aruch HaShulchan claims that if ma’aser kesafim were used for one’s own children, the poor would never receive any charity.
According to Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Igrot Moshe, Yoreh De’ah 1:143), social conditions have changed since the days of the Shach. Children once began working at the age of six. Therefore, ma’aser kesafim could be used to provide for them. Children today, however, do not work until a much later age, and parents feel duty-bound to support them. Rabbi Feinstein points out that included in a husband’s obligation to support his wife is a requirement to enable her to give charity. She will naturally use this right to provide for her children. In effect, then, a person is compelled to support his children even if they are over the age of six. He cannot, therefore, use ma’aser kesafim money to provide for his children until an age when family custom dictates that the child go to work.
(To be continued)