Kli Yakar on giving tzedaka to freeloaders

I saw this Dvar Torah several months ago, but I think this is as good a time as any to make this more public knowledge, being that it is a very relevant topic.

The Kli Yakar on parshas Mishpatim, commenting on the mitzva of helping someone unload his donkey buckling under its load, states the following:

"עמו" - ומכאן תשובה לקצת עניים בני עמנו המטילים עצמם על הצבור ואינם רוצים לעשות בשום מלאכה שבה יכולים להביא שבר רעבון ביתם, וקוראים תגר אם אין נותנים להם די מחסורם. דבר זה לא ציוה ה' כי אם 'עזב תעזב עמו' 'הקם תקים עמו' (דברים כ"ב), כי העני יעשה כל אשר ימצא בכוחו לעשות ואם בכל זאת לא תשיג ידו, אז חייב כל איש מישראל לסעדו ולחזקו וליתן לו די מחסורו אשר יחסר לו ו'עזב תעזב' אפילו מאה פעמים".

My translation:

"With him" - hence an answer to some impoverished people of our Nation, who cast themselves on the community, do not want to do any work to sustain their households, and raise a stink if people don't give them enough to meet their needs.  This is not what Hashem commanded; rather "you shall surely help with him", which means that the poor man must do everything in his power [to earn a living], and if he nonetheless does not manage, then every Jew is obligated to help and strengthen him and cover his shortfall, helping him even 100 times.


What else is there to say?

Don't donate money over the phone!

This post was inspired by Rafi's posting today, about an experience he had with a telemarketer soliciting him for a donation. I was going to comment there, but I think this merits a blog post of its own.

There are many stories of people abusing the name of a well known organization to solicit donations over the phone. Lemaan Achai has been the victim of this: they have stated many times that they never solicit funds over the phone, yet there's an organization called "Lemaan Achai (Rechovot)" that regularly phones people in Beit Shemesh, introducing themselves simply as "Lemaan Achai" (maybe mumbling the "Rechovot" part), and leveraging LA's good name in Beit Shemesh to get funds for themselves.

A few months ago, it occurred to me that is is impossible for me to know whether anybody who calls me unsolicited is actually representing the organization they say they are. If I wanted, I could open myself a PayPal or other merchant account and name it, say, "Yad Eliezer", then start phoning people up with a great sales pitch, get their credit card numbers and bill them as if I were the real Yad Eliezer. It would show up on their credit card statements as "Yad Eliezer", and nobody would be any the wiser.

Since then, I have refused point blank to give out my credit card info to anybody over the phone - even if I know the organization, and the caller insists that I've donated to them in the past, and all they want is for me to renew my donation! Who says that they didn't dupe me a year ago? How do I know that they really are who they say they are - especially if their caller ID is blocked, as most telemarketers are? Instead, what I do is I ask them for their website URL, or for them to send me a brochure in the mail so that I can mail them a check. It's actually a little disconcerting how few of these reps have actually followed through with this...

Bottom line: don't give your credit card information to anybody over the phone - unless you yourself initiated the call.