Popa, the welfare system will not support someone at a decent level unless he is living alone in some very low-rent set-up.Even then, Chazal and all of the Rishonim and Acharonim presumed that one should be ashamed calling this “nehama d’kisufa” (bread of shame). Thus, the highest form of tzedakka is to give someone a job (Shach Yoreh Deah 249:7). Te proper exception is if someone has a pension or is otherwise financially independent (as was Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai when he began to learn full-time).
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