Individuals who regularly set aside a tenth (ma’aser) or a fifth from their earnings – their tzedakah is on a higher level than those who give tzedakah haphazardly, even if the sums they each give are in the end identical. This is because those who give haphazardly have the only the merit of the mitzvah of tzedakah itself, but their business is not part of it and is therefore not an elevated endeavor. Whereas when a person sets aside a tenth or a fifth of the profits from his business, then the business itself is part of the mitzvah. This is especially true if at the time that he set up the business he had in mind that all of his actions will be for the sake of Hashem – that it will enable him to use some of his profits to tzedakah – then how beautiful is his portion and how pleasant is his lot!
