Laws of Tzedakah - Updated Weekly

Shulchan Aruch Yore Deah: The Laws of Tzedakah
Translated by Rabbi Yosef Goldberg - Bayswater, NY

Siman 253 : For Whom is it Proper to Receive Tzedakah.

4) A businessman who is traveling from place to place, and while still on his journey his monies are depleted to the point that he is not able to purchase food, may receive from Tzedakah. When he returns home he is not obligated to repay to Tzedakah the funds that he had received while on his journey. (For his case is equivalent to one who was once poor and later became wealthy, who is not obligated to return to Tzedakah the monies that he had received when he was still poor.)

5) A person provided for the welfare of a young orphan with the intention of performing a Mitzvah. Later when the orphan became an adult, the benefactor demanded repayment for the expenditures that he had spent on behalf of the orphan all of those years. The orphan is exempt from any payment.

Addendum: Even if the orphan had possessions during those years, he is exempt from any payment as long as the benefactor did not openly express that he was providing for the orphan in the form of a loan. This ruling applies only to an orphan. Anyone else, however, who is provided for in this manner without any stipulation is automatically considered to be receiving a loan.

To view our archives click here.