Question:
I’ve been giving some of my own money but right now I’m feeling a bit stingy and would rather give from my mayser money to those in the train and on the street who are Maby or Maby not homeless or poor (not Jewish people) the deeper question is if I start giving from my mayser money even though I’ll be giving in abundance and when I feel I can give from my own I’ll give even more yet is this a stingy act or a kind act or what?
Answer:
It is hard for me to understand specifically what you mean to ask.
In general though, the mitzvah of giving tzedakah is very big mitzvah, and you should really give your tzedakah money to the thousands of poor Jewish people. When we give tzedakah, we are supposed to give preference to those that are closest to us, our family, our friends, neighbors, then people in our community, etc. There is also a big preference to give our tzedakah to torah institutions. This way, besides for doing the mitzvah of giving tzedakah, your will also have benefit, that the torah learning that is done because of your support, will be credited to you. I would be very hesitant to give to money to the people in train station etc. because, as you wrote you don’t even know that they are really poor, and you might be wasting your tzedakah money. Aside from this there is a good chance that your tzedakah money might be used to buy drugs, or other undesirable things, and you will be assisting their negative actions. Therefore it is recommended that you give your tzedakah to places that you are sure that they are good causes.
