Deducting from Maaser Because of Payment to a Substitute
Question
Hello, honorable Rabbi,
I work in a place where the salary period is calculated from the 1st to the 1st of each month, and the salary is actually deposited on the 10th of the month.
I am assisted by a friend who does part of the work in my place, and I pay him for it immediately when I receive my salary (on the 10th of the month).
This means that between the 1st and the 10th of the month, the friend is already working, and I pay him on the 10th from the salary I received for the previous month, before I have received the money for the current month in which he is working. It turns out that I am paying him in advance for those days.
Because of this, when I now deduct his payment from the salary I received, it turns out that I have given less maaser than I am truly obligated to give from this salary — because I deducted from it an expense that actually belongs to the next month, and not to the previous month for which I received the money. Although next month I will make up the difference (because I will receive a full salary and will not deduct the payment again), at the moment a situation has arisen in which I separated less than the original obligation from the current salary.
My question is: Is this method of calculation permitted according to Halacha, or is it considered delaying the maaser and should I act differently?
I work in a place where the salary period is calculated from the 1st to the 1st of each month, and the salary is actually deposited on the 10th of the month.
I am assisted by a friend who does part of the work in my place, and I pay him for it immediately when I receive my salary (on the 10th of the month).
This means that between the 1st and the 10th of the month, the friend is already working, and I pay him on the 10th from the salary I received for the previous month, before I have received the money for the current month in which he is working. It turns out that I am paying him in advance for those days.
Because of this, when I now deduct his payment from the salary I received, it turns out that I have given less maaser than I am truly obligated to give from this salary — because I deducted from it an expense that actually belongs to the next month, and not to the previous month for which I received the money. Although next month I will make up the difference (because I will receive a full salary and will not deduct the payment again), at the moment a situation has arisen in which I separated less than the original obligation from the current salary.
My question is: Is this method of calculation permitted according to Halacha, or is it considered delaying the maaser and should I act differently?
Answer
Hello and blessings.
There is no problem with this.
Ultimately, you are giving maaser from the entire portion that comes to you.
And the precise order of payment by month does not prevent this at all.
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