Is it indeed inappropriate to scale back on charitable disbursements when times are tough, when we are curtailing our spending in so many other lifestyle areas?
Besides the many commandments in the Torah instructing us to love our fellow man and be kind to the poor in specific ways, there is also an explicit commandment to "open your hand" to the poor.
Nothing we own is really ours to begin with—G‑d gives to us so we can give to others. Giving is a mitzvah and a responsibility. As such, it comes with its own set of dos and don'ts.
There are eight levels of charity, each greater than the next. The greatest level, above which there is no greater, is to support a fellow Jew by endowing him with a gift or loan...
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