CCAR RESPONSA
Presenting a Check for Tzedakah at Shabbat Services
5756.4
Sh’elah
Our congregation plans a special Shabbat service to honor the work of a charitable agency. As we have raised funds for that cause, we wonder whether it would be permissible to give a check to a representative of that agency during the service. (Rabbi Lawrence Englander,Mississauga,Ontario)
T’shuvah
The observance of Shabbat is a complex and challenging issue for Reform Jews. On the one hand, we dispense in our practice with many of the traditional prohibitions associated with the day. Put differently, we tend to be more comfortable with zakhor, the various rituals which enable us to “remember” the Sabbath, than with shamor, the requirement that we refrain from a multitude of activities as the proper means to “observe” the Sabbath. On the other hand, it is inaccurate to say that we Reform Jews have no concept of Shabbat observance. The seventh day is for us, as it is for other Jews, shabbat kodesh, a sacred time, possessing a character which differentiates it from other days. An inescapable component of this sanctity is the recognition that certain activities ought not to be performed on Shabbat, for to indulge in them would violate the essence and spirit of the holy day as we perceive these to be. Our list of “forbidden activities” may differ from and be markedly smaller than that maintained by the traditional halakhah, but the spirit behind these prohibitions demonstrates that we regard the issue of Shabbat observance with the utmost seriousness.[1]
In the case before us, we are asked whether a congregational gift to tz’dakah is one of these “forbidden activities.” The she’elah demands that we balance a traditional observance, that which prohibits the making of gifts on Shabbat, against an action which reflects a community’s commitment to social justice, one of the highest values in Reform Jewish thought. Is the making of this donation compatible with our conception of Shabbat observance? The answer to this question requires that we consider the nature of the halakhic prohibition, the extent to which it continues to speak to us as Reform Jews, and the possibility that a gift to tz’dakah counts for us as an exception to the rules laid down by Jewish law and tradition.
1. Commercial Activity (Sale and Gift) on Shabbat. Although buying and selling (mekach umimkar) are not numbered among the thirty-nine categories of work (m’lakhah) prohibited on Shabbat,[2] commercial activity is nonetheless forbidden on that day.[3] The authorities differ over the textual basis of this rule. Some trace it to biblical verses, whether Isaiah 58:13 (“if you refrain from trampling the Sabbath, from pursuing your affairs on My holy day…if you honor it and go not your ways, nor look to your affairs…”),[4] Nehemiah 13:15-22[5] or Leviticus 23:24.[6] Others explain the prohibition as a rabbinic ordinance (sh’vut), a preventive measure aimed at reducing the temptation to write on the Sabbath.[7] In any event, the sources agree that business transactions are prohibited, not because they constitute “work” but because they violate the spirit of Shabbat. The making of a gift is also prohibited on Shabbat on the grounds that, since it involves a transfer of ownership, it is analogous to buying and selling.[8]
In declaring these acts forbidden, the halakhic sources teach us that the observance of Shabbat is much more than the mere abstinence from that which is formally defined as “work.” Shabbat, as idea and experience, demands that we separate ourselves from other inappropriate preoccupations as well. In the words of one commentator: “although the Torah prohibits the various kinds of work (m’lakhot) in all their details, a person might still toil all day long at those things which do not fall into that category. It is to forestall this possibility that the Torah says: `you shall rest.’“[9] The rabbis, that is to say, acting at the Torah’s behest, prohibit on Shabbat a number of activities which, though not m’lakhah, are deemed incompatible with the nature of the day. Commercial transactions clearly fall under this rubric. They may not transgress, in a formal sense, the prohibition against “work.” Yet they are prohibited because they comprise a realm of effort, of striving after gain, which is out of place on a day devoted to holiness, destructive of the goal of m’nuchah, of Shabbat rest and spiritual renewal.[10]
The prohibition against the giving of gifts is not absolute. One may make a gift on Shabbat or on a festival in an indirect manner, through a variety of legal devices which allow one to avoid transgressing the letter of the law. Thus, one may formally transfer the ownership of the item to the recipient prior to the onset of Shabbat, even though the recipient takes physical possession of it on Shabbat itself. Alternately, one may instruct the recipient not to intend to assume ownership of the gift until after Shabbat has ended.[11] Moreover, under certain circumstances it is entirely permissible to make a gift directly on Shabbat. These include gifts made “for the sake of Shabbat or the festival” or “for the sake of a mitzvah.”[12] An example of this is the act by which a person gives his lulav to another so that the other may fulfill the mitzvah of n’tilat lulav on the first day of Sukkot.[13] Similarly, since it is a mitzvah to rejoice with the bride and groom, we give them gifts on the Shabbat during their wedding week.[14] And no less an authority than R. Moshe Sofer permits a congregation to give a gift to a rabbi on Shabbat, “for this honors the Torah and glorifies the mitzvah.”[15] Yet the tradition does not extend this permissive line to gifts of money. While a community may discuss matters of tz’dakah and other public business and even decide upon tz’dakah appropriations on Shabbat,[16] it is nonetheless forbidden to make monetary donations, even to a worthy cause, on that day.[17]
2. Shabbat Observance and Reform Judaism. Does this prohibition apply to our case, in the context of a contemporary Reform congregation? A good argument can be made that it does not. It is well known, after all, that Reform Judaism does not strictly observe the traditional prohibitions connected with the Sabbath. While we accept the traditional conception of Shabbat as a day on which we “rest” and do no manner of “work,” we do not believe that the structure of m’lakhah and sh’vut framed by the ancient rabbis represents the final word on Jewish practice. We exercise the freedom to do continue their work for our own time, to “develop definitions of work and rest that resonate with the needs of contemporary Jews.”[18] We may set aside the traditional prohibitions when we find them irrelevant to our conception of Shabbat or when we believe that the sanctity of the day will be nurtured and encouraged thereby.
If so, why should a Reform Jew or congregation be prevented from making a charitable donation on Shabbat? We have already seen that the halakhic tradition permits gifts on Shabbat when these enhance the day’s holiness or when they enable us to perform a mitzvah. In the case before us, the gift is to be made to tz’dakah, surely one of the most exalted of the mitzvot. Tz’dakah, moreover, plays a vital and central role in the practice of Reform Judaism, which has distinguished itself by its dedication to the cause of social justice. A gift to tz’dakah in the context of a worship service would serve to strengthen in our congregants the sense of holiness and the commitment to Jewish life. Thus, while halakhah prohibits the transfer of money on Shabbat, this prohibition should perhaps be waived when the recipient of the money is a person or organization that will use it for the sake of tikkun olam.
Yet this argument fails to register the other side of our attitude toward religious observance. Though we are free to depart from traditional practices, we are not free to ignore them altogether. The tradition serves us as an indispensable starting point, the standard by which we measure our perception of “the needs of contemporary Jews” against the collective religious experience of the Jewish people throughout its history. It is our goal “to balance our creativity in practice with the desire to conserve and adapt what speaks to us from the past.”[19] This conception implies that we are not neutral and dispassionate in our attitude toward traditional standards of practice. Rather, we seek actively and affirmatively to “conserve” and to “adapt” those traditions whenever possible. In practical terms, traditional observances ought to enjoy a considerable presumptive weight in our thinking. As liberal Jews who seek affirm our connection to our people in all lands and all ages, we should maintain the traditional practice in the absence of a compelling reason to abandon or alter it.[20]
The Responsa Committee has long followed this approach with respect to questions on the observance of Shabbat. We have stressed time and again that Shabbat is a mitzvah in its own right, one which makes its own legitimate demands upon us, demands which often take precedence over other worthy causes.[21] We maintain the prohibition against performing weddings and funerals on the Sabbath, even though both of these ceremonies enjoy the status of mitzvah in the Jewish tradition.[22] We strongly discourage the scheduling of congregational meetings and synagogue fundraising projects on that day, even though it is a mitzvah to support the community.[23] In each of these cases, we have found that the traditional practice expresses a sense of the sanctity of Shabbat that maintains its attraction to Reform Jews. We have therefore favored that practice over an alternative, more “innovative” standard.
We have also urged that social action and tz’dakah projects involving traditionally-prohibited labor not be held on Shabbat. Tz’dakah is indeed a mitzvah, but then, so is the observance of Shabbat; and generally, “we do not perform a true mitzvah if it is done by transgressing another command.”[24] In light of our movement’s increasing efforts during recent decades to strengthen Shabbat observance among our people,[25] we must acknowledge that while a social action project may be scheduled on a weekday, “the seventh day is the Sabbath; it belongs to Adonai your God” (Ex. 20:10; Deut. 5:14). Shabbat is not simply a day on which we do good deeds. It is shabbat kodesh, a holy day, a refuge from many of the activities associated with the weekday world of building and planting, sowing and reaping, getting and spending. We do not trespass upon Shabbat, even for the sake of mitzvot, unless those mitzvot must be performed on that very day.
Conclusion. In the case before us, we would ask a simple question: must the donation be made to the charitable organization on Shabbat? Clearly, the answer is “no.” This is not an emergency situation; there is no consideration of pikuach nefesh (the saving of a life) that demands an immediate response. We see no reason why the gift cannot be made, and do just as much good, on Friday or Sunday. It is true that a gift to tz’dakah does not count as a “commercial activity” and is therefore less offensive to our religious sensibilities than an ordinary business transaction. Still, we doubt that any good purpose is served by abandoning the traditional prohibition against the transfer of money on the Sabbath. Indeed, the opposite is the case. By not making the gift at the service, by pointedly calling attention to the fact that we do not transfer money on this day, we remind our community that Shabbat is a holy day, a day set aside for the pursuit of its own very special purposes.
The congregation may by all means devote the theme of its Shabbat services to tz’dakah or to the work of the organization in question. And a representative of the congregation may certainly announce that a gift has been made (or will be made at the conclusion of the Sabbath) to the agency. In this way, the community can achieve its goal of instilling and reinforcing the value of tz’dakah in its members. And by not making the actual donation at the service, it can demonstrate its commitment to another, no less important value: that Shabbat, no less than tz’dakah, is a mitzvah in its own right.
NOTES
1. For an attempt to define a Reform Jewish approach to the prohibition against “work” on Shabbat see Gates of Shabbat: A Guide for Observing Shabbat, 49-59.
2. M. Shabbat 7:2.
3. SA OC 306:1ff.
4. B. Shabbat 113a-b; Tosafot, 113b, s.v. shelo; B. Beitzah 37a, and Rashi, s.v. mishum mekach umimkar; Arukh Hashulchan, OC 306, no. 17.
5. Rashi, B. Beitzah 27b, s.v. ein poskin damim.
6. Nachmanides to the verse.
7. Yad, Hil. Shabbat 23:12; Rashi, B. Beitzah 37a, s.v. mishum mekach umimkar, second explanation; Mishnah B’rurah 306, no. 32.
8. Yad, Hil. Mekhirah 30:7.
9. Magid Mishneh to Yad, Hil. Shabbat 21:1, Maimonides’ citation of Ex. 23:12–”six days shall you occupy yourself with all your affairs (kol ma`asekha), but on the seventh day you shall rest.”
10. See Nachmanides to Lev. 23:24, who derives this point from the word shabbaton.
11. In this fashion have some authorities permitted the giving of gifts to a boy on the day of his Bar Mitzvah celebration. See R. Yehudah Aszod (19th-cent. Hungary), Resp. Yehudah Ya`aleh, OC, no. 83, R. Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg (20th-cent. Germany and Switzerland), Resp. Seridei Esh, II, no. 26, and R. Yonah Metzger (20th-cent. Israel), Resp. Miyam Hahalakhah, II, no. 80.
12. l’tzorekh mitzvah; Beit Yosef, OC 527, in the name of the Mordekhai; Magen Avraham, OC 306, no. 15; Mishnah B’rurah 306, no. 33; Arukh Hashulchan, OC 306, no. 17.
13. See Lev. 23:40 (ulekachtem lakhem) and B. Sukkah 41b; SA OC 658:3-4: on the first day of Sukkot, one fulfills the mitzvah only with one’s own lulav, not a borrowed one.
14. Arukh Hashulchan, loc. cit.
15. Hagahot HaChatam Sofer (18th-19th cent. Hungary), SA OC 306, to Taz, no. 2.
16. Isaiah 58:13 (see at n. 4, above) is understood as prohibiting us from pursuing our own affairs on Shabbat; the pursuit of “Heaven’s business” (tz’dakah, the public welfare), by contrast, is permitted. B. Shabbat 150a; SA OC 306:6.
17. See SA OC 310 on the restrictions concerning contact with money on Shabbat.
18. Gates of Shabbat, 57. And see R. Israel Bettan’s responsum from 1952: “to hark back to the puritanic rigors of the Rabbinic Sabbath is to call into question the relevancy of religion to modern life” (ARR, no. 43).
19. Gates of Shabbat, loc. cit.
20. This affirmation is evident in numerous decisions rendered by this Committee in recent years. In this, we have followed the guidance of our teacher, Rabbi Walter Jacob: see his Questions and Reform Jewish Answers, nos. 4, 67, 95, 99, 100, and others.
21. See T’shuvot for the Nineties, “Delayed Berit Milah on Shabbat,” no. 5755.12, http://ccarnet.org/responsa/tfn-no-5755-12/ : “The fact that Shabbat `conflicts’ with another mitzvah or worthy cause does not mean that it is Shabbat which must give way. Indeed, the reverse is often the case.”
22. On the prohibition of weddings on Shabbat, see ARR, no. 136, http://ccarnet.org/responsa/arr-412-415/ : “we encourage our members to make Shabbat a `special’ day upon which we do not carry out duties and acts performed on other days. Countenancing marriages on Shabbat would detract from this objective and weaken our efforts.”
23. R. Solomon B. Freehof, Reform Responsa, no. 8, http://ccarnet.org/responsa/rr-51-55/; CARR, no. 177. See also R. Walter Jacob, Questions and Reform Jewish Answers, no. 60, http://ccarnet.org/responsa/narr-97-98/. who notes that the availability of Sunday as a non-work day in our culture virtually eliminates the need to discuss communal business on Shabbat.
24. T’shuvot for the Nineties, no. 5753.22, http://ccarnet.org/responsa/tfn-no-5753-22-169-170/; see also CARR, no. 176, http://ccarnet.org/responsa/carr-265-267/.
25. Testimony to this emphasis is found in many recent publications of the Central Conference of American Rabbis: Gates of Shabbat; Gates of the Seasons (1983), 15-33; and Shabbat Manual (1972).