Do We Make a Blessing/Berocha When Giving Charity/Tzedaka?
This morning after I gave some charity I thought about this. Normally we make a blessing on any mitzvah we do. Like making a blessing/berocha on lighting the menorah, eating matzah, and blowing the shofar. So if giving charity is a mitzvah, why than no blessing?
The Rashba, who is a commentator on the Talmud, says that in order to make a blessing/berocha a on a mitzvah it must be entirely 100% in our hands. When we give tzedaka it is not totally up to us. We can make the blessing, and then try and hand over the money but there is no guarantee that the person we are giving to will take it. True that this is highly unlikely as most people collecting charity will gladly accept it from you, but nevertheless we can only make a blessing/berocha on that which is 100% in our hands to complete.
For example when we make a blessing on food, the food should be in our hand and at the least in front of us. More than once, when I was younger, I recall making a blessing on water and then pushing the water fountain button and no water came out. With a water fountain it is important to first push the button so we see the water and then make the berocha.
2 Responses to “Do We Make a Blessing/Berocha When Giving Charity/Tzedaka?”
how about making a bracha before putting tzedaka in a charity box? in that case you know its in your hands and the charity box will accept it
The question of putting money in a charity box, is when is it received. For example, we should give Tzedaka every day, but does this count if we put it in a charity box and then once a year donate its contents to somewhere. On Purim when we have the explicit mitzvah of Matanot Levyonim (gifts to the poor) the money must reach the poor person on the day. It is not enough to put it in a box.