When donating to a Jewish charity to give maaser, is it okay to pay with a credit card, or do you have to pay with cash/check/debit?
As long as you eventually pay off all the charges up to and including that credit card charge its fine. Its just not counted as maaser until you do.
Rabbi
This is an intriguing reply. I go to my bank, borrow money, sign a loan document, and deposit that money into my bank account. I then use that bank account to make donations to charities. Am I understanding your position is I did not make ma’aser donations?
And as it relates to credit cards, if I have a running balance on my credit card, and I make purchases and payments all the time, how can I state which item on my credit card is paid and which is still open?
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Im not understanding your first analogy. You are only obligated to give maaser after you made a profit. You take maaser from that profit and give it to tzedakah. Now if you have money somewhere else, you can take from that money as well to give as Maaser. But when you give from money that is not yours such as borrowed money, then you aren’t giving from “your” money and therefore it is not maaser. But, if you borrow money, give it as Tzedaka and then pay it back using money earmarked for Maaser, then retroactively the money given is considered maaser. A credit line is not your money. Every time you swipe your card, the bank is loaning you money to pay for whatever it is you swiped. You pay the bank back not the person you swiped the card at, at the end of the month.