125 – Giving a Fifth / Part II, Chapter Twenty (e)

From this enactment of the Sages that one is not permitted to spend more than a fifth of his resources on tzedakah, one learns how much a person must be careful and care about his money to not waste it on the nonsense of this World. For if even on the mitzvah of tzedakah – which is so beneficial to people and it protects the giver in this World and the Next – our Sages admonished that one not spends more than a fifth, then all the more so should one not spend it on false honor or the like, to wear fancy clothing and to live lavish homes.