Avram > Who says that the U.S. Government entitlements are halachically considered tzedakah?
It is a good question. What are alternatives? I see halakhic sources mentioning a goyishe ruler giving to charity and we have problem with that seemingly due to his personal involvement. Maybe having a law-based society, treating Jews as equals in all aspects, changes that. So, this argument might allow taking payments from non-Jewish government in a legitimate way, especially as we pay our taxes.
So, just general thinking about halakhic status of payments from government:
– explicit insurance: unemployment, flood, FDIC, medicare, social security (even if a trick somewhat)
– payment for accepted services: school transportation, public services
– old-style political hegemon payments, like I hear student loan forgiveness for slackers.
– charity: welfare, food stamps, medicaid: any payments based on low income, maybe even taking low-income tax deductions, I guess.
Why are the later ones charity? It is an organized system of supporting poor. Again, an interesting question: do we consider it “non-Jewish” or some more neutral form. Let’s say it is a sofek, then you can have two possible set of rules: some for Jewish charities, some for non-Jewish (I don’t think these are kal vehomer – one may be more stringent in some cases, another – in other). So, appropriate behavior would be somewhere between these two versions.
If anyone has better halakhic sources, I am all ears.