Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- P'ninat Mishpat
Case: In our community (the rabbi is asking), the minhag has been to have appraisers (who determine the amount that members of the community must give towards taxes, communal expenses, and/or charity) do the appraisal of everyone in the community, including their relatives. This is especially necessary because most of the people in the community have relatives within it. There was a meeting recently to choose new appraisers, and people agreed to the old system, but once the identity of the appraisers was determined based on lots, some people complained about the system. Do they have a right to do so?
Ruling: Even if there were not an established minhag to have appraisers of this type, since people were present when the decision was taken, they cannot back out. This is true even if no act of kinyanwas done to finalize the agreement because something that was done in the presence of the seven lay leaders of the city is binding even without a kinyan.
P'ninat Mishpat (835)
Various Rabbis
348 - Offsetting Obligations of a Deceased
349 - Appraising Relatives
350 - Counting to Four Generations
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In this case, the one complaining wants that the appraisers should be permitted to appraise only people who are not related to them. They should realize that this idea will not solve the problem anyway, as in matters of apportioning responsibility, all members of the community have an interest in the decisions. After all, if one raises the demands on people who are not their relatives, it makes it possible to take less money from one’s relatives and oneself. If one wants to totally reject theminhag and have appraisers who conform to the normal halachic requirements of impartiality, then it would only be possible to have people from outside the city with no relatives in the city do it. However, this is impossible to arrange for all intents and purposes.
It is true that the more common minhag is indeed that the appraisers appraise only those who are not related to them. However, that is not the halacha but based on minhag. When the minhag is different, as in your community, an individual has no right to complain about it.
Please realize that I usually do not state my opinion on matters affecting other communities and am doing so only because you are here to ask me several questions, and I promised you that I would answer what I can. Also be aware that if the government has any qualms with the system that is being employed, you must follow what they say. I just give permission to show my letter to the government and the likelihood is that they will agree that you follow what the Torah has to say on the matter.
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: A Contractor’s Leaving the Job in the Middle – part III
based on ruling 84013 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Unsuccessful Transfer of Yeshiva – part V
based on appeal ruling 82138 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Rabbis in Midrash
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Various Events FOR WHOM NOT TO VOTE
Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook stressed that Israeli politics is G-dly, so I have no problem answering this common question on a Torani blog. Also, Free-Will is a G-d-given right and obligation, to "destine one's fate" (R. Soloveichik, Kol Dodi Dofek, 67), so I obviously don't tell others how to vote. But once not a few (especially young) have already asked, a couple of personal words from experience and thoughts from chazal & Rav Kook which may be of help to others, mainly for whom NOT to vote.
P'ninat Mishpat Fallout from Failure to Install Elevator – part II
based on ruling 85007 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
