Rabbi’s Contribution to a Building Fund

The congregation is collecting funds for a new build ing. The rabbi wishes to contribute to that fund. Some members feel that it is not proper that he should do so. What is the Jewish traditional attitude to a rabbi contributing to the needs of the congregation? (From Rabbi Sanford E. Rosen, San Mateo, California)

The question of a rabbi’s participation in bearing the expenses of a congregation or a community has received a great deal of discussion in Jewish legal literature. In fact, the subject goes back to the Talmud and even to the Bible. In Ezra (7 :24) it is stated (after enumerating taxes and imposts) that no tax or impost of any kind should be required of priests, Levites, and other Temple servants. The Talmud (b. Baba Bathra 8c top), when a tax was placed upon the rabbis, rebukes the one who imposed the tax by saying: “You have violated the Torah, the prophets, and the holy writings.” There are also some Agadic statements to the effect that certain people (Abraham and King Asa) were punished because they imposed a tax upon the scholars (see b. Nedarim 32a and Sotah 10a).

In the Middle Ages this feeling that it is wrong to impose taxes upon the rabbis grew firmer and more definite. Taxation imposed upon the Jewish communities by the government had to be prorated in various ways among its members, sometimes according to a man’s possessions, and sometimes equally upon all (as a poll tax). It was followed, as a definite policy, that the man who devotes his time to the study of the Torah, to teaching it, and to answering the religious questions of the community, should be free from all such taxes. All this is codified in the Shulchan Aruch (Yore Deah 243 : 2),-where the law is given that the rabbi “whose livelihood is the Torah,” Toroso umnoso, shall be freed from all taxes placed upon the community. The law goes on to explain that if, of course, the rabbi is a well-to-do man and has a business of his own, that business should participate in the tax burden. But if he has only a small subsistence business, for the purpose of being somewhat independent of the gifts of the members of the community, then such a small business should not be taxed. In other words, if the Torah is his main concern and occupation, he should be free from all taxes and imposts.

This unbroken tradition is applicable to the question which is asked here. First of all, the rabbi should be free from all regular dues and assessments. Whether he should contribute to the building fund or not depends upon how the fund is being gathered. If it is being gathered pro rata or as a fixed-sum assessment upon the members, this is an impost which should not be placed upon him. But if it is a freewill offering which a man can make or not make, as he wishes, then if the rabbi wishes or is able to contribute, there can be no objection on the part of Jewish law or Jewish tradition to his doing so.