Reply To: Stupid ASPCA commercials

JF02. Chazal are very clear about money serving a purpose. We have a requirement to give tzedaka, and we have a cap as to how much tzedaka we are allowed to give (generally, 20% of net income). If I have yet to reach my cap, how could I take money that I set aside for tzedaka and give it to a dog instead of an orphan, widow, or yeshiva? It’s absurd – especially as a Jew, who has a strict obligation to support Torah learning. Maybe the goyim who have no chiyuv of tzedaka (that I know of) can use their money on lesser things, but only because they have no obligation to give tzedaka at all. But for a Jew to pay for a random stray animal is obscene when there are so many needy Jews in klall Yisrael. Since you seem to be fond of emotional arguments, I’ll say it like this: There are Jews that have lost families to terror, children lying on their death beds because they can’t afford better healthcare, single mothers whose husbands died and are now trying to raise children alone, thousands of children in Israel that go to sleep hungry every night because they only get fed in school, people that cannot afford to make food for yomim tovim and shabbasos, and lots more examples of your needy brothers and sisters – not even talking about non-Jewish people who suffer just as badly. In this context it is pure achzariyus to give tzedaka money to help stray animals – abused or not abused.

Thanks PBA, that could very well be. It was a long time ago when I heard this. It’s definitely assur though. I know it’s even assur to have a non-jew do it for you. I wonder if it would be halachically assur to give money to these organisations just for that reason alone – that we know they use the money for forbidden practices…hmm…