The verse says “When you lend my people money; the pauper with you etc.”, and Chazal derive from the words “The pauper with you” that if you have a choice to give charity to the poor people of your city or to “your poor people”, then “your poor people” take precedence. This means to say that poor people who are your relatives take precedence over poor people of your city. It also says in the prophet “And from your own flesh you should not ignore!”. The halachic law is that a poor person who has rich relatives does not receive money from the local charity fund as his relatives are obligated to support him. This is especially true of the poor people are the father or brothers of the rich people, that the rich person is obligated to have pity on them and support them according to his means in a respectful and welcoming way, as if he gives much charity to others and leaves his own brother and father to die of hunger he will pay the price and especially as he is obligated to fulfil the commandment to honor his father and Chazal say “What is the honor (that one must have for one’s parents)? To feed him, give him drink, clothe him and give him shoes to wear.” Especially when they grow old he must support their old age and give them the amount that they are missing with great honor and a happy face. If a person would give away all of the wealth of his house, he would still not be able to repay and return to his father and mother for all that they suffered for him in body and money.
It is, however, extremely difficult for the parents to need to take from their own children, as the popular saying goes “When the father supports ten sons both the father and the sons are happy, whereas when the ten sons support one father both the father and sons are sad!”. It is nevertheless an obligation which is incumbent upon the son to verbally appease his parents with kind words as this is the main oart of the commandment to honor one’s parents, as Chazal said that there is a son who feeds his father beautiful food and goes to Gehinnom whereas another makes his father grind with a millstone and goes to Gan Eden for it like the story in the Midrash of a person who fed his father delicious food with bad grace and in anger and was punished for it whereas another put his father to grind with a millstone to save him from having to work for the king which would have been even harder and was rewarded for it.
