1) Rav Yosef states that a 'Shomer Aveydah' is considered a "Shomer Sochir' and the Gem. explains why this is so. Because he is an Osek B'Mitzvah and thus 'Potur' from giving 'tzedaka' is the reason given.
If my grandson would come home from school and tell me that he earned a quarter that day by not giving 'tzedaka',(because he was an outstanding student in the hall); I would be more than disappointed in him.
Not only would I tell him that this is not called making money but I would tell him of the great loss he suffered by missing out on the Mitzvah!
Yet the Gem. says different. Can you explain?
2) One more thought. We follow the minhag of The Arizal in our B"H and the Gabai Tzedakah goes around with a pushka during davening by Vayvorech David. Is this K'neged our Gem.?
Kol Tuv
Alex Lebovits, Toronto, Canada
(1) Possibly it is easier to understand this if we look at a well-known passage in the Ritva Sukah 25a, which is one of the basic sources in the sugya of "Osek b'Mitzvah Patur min Hamitzvah". The Ritva states that one is only exempt from the second Mitzvah at the time that one is actually performing the first Mitzvah, not otherwise (this is in fact stated by Tosfos in our sugya DH b'Hahi - that it is only when one is spreading out the lost clothing, or doing some other necessary activity for the benefit of the lost item, that one is exempt from giving the bread to the pauper).
The Ritva asks: if so, why do we require a verse to teach that Osek b'Mitzva Patur min Hamitzah (this is the verse "u'Belchtecha baderech" cited by Rashi here DH d'Lo)? Even if we did not possess a verse for this, it surely should be an obvious Din from logic alone, because what reason could there be that one should leave one Mitzvah and go to do another Mitzvah?!
The Ritva answers with a big chidush: the verse is teaching us that even if one wants to leave the Mitzvah one is doing at the moment and go and do a second Mitzvah which is greater than the first, one is still not allowed to do so. He writes that the reason for this is because since one is exempt from the second Mitzvah, it therefore is not considered a Mitzvah at all, but rather a purely optional activity, and therefore one is not allowed to leave a Mitzvah one is doing merely to do something optional instead.
The notes to the Ritva in Sukah cite the Or Zaru'a #299 who explains this a bit further. The reason one cannot leave a light Mitzvah in order to perform a more weighty one, is because we do not in fact know what reward we receive for each Mitzvah. (This is the reason why Pirkei Avos 2:1 states that we should be just as careful about performimg a light Mitzvah as a severe one.)
On the basis of the above, we can now understand that if one did not give Tzedakah because one was actually looking after the Aveidah, one did not lose the Mitzvah of Tzedakah because at that time Tzedakah is not even considered a Mitzvah but merely an optional act. The Mitzvah that Hash-m wants you to do right at this moment is to look after the Aveidah, and if one should abandon this Mitzvah this would be considered that one is making light of ha'Shavas Aveidah.
(However it must be stressed that Tosfos DH b'Hahi cites Nedarim 33b that the Perutah of Rav Yosef is not frequent, because it is unusual that the pauper should come exactly at the same moment that the finder of the Aveidah is actually looking after the Aveidah.)
(2) Yes, you would be right to be upset with your grandson. This is because Osek b'Mitzvah Patur Min ha'Mitzvah does not apply when someone is in the middle of learning Torah. I found the Sdei Chemed who states the above principle and I would like to suggest a proof for this from Shulchan Aruch YD 246:18 that if one is learning Torah and a Mitzvah comes up which cannot be done by anyone else, one has to break off learning in order to do the Mitzvah. The Torah was given to us in order to fulfil the Mitzvos so one has to stop learning Torah to do a Mitzvah no one else can do.
(3) Your Minhag is mentioned by the Mishneh Berurah 51:19 and is not against the Gemara. I can suggest 2 reasons why not.
(a) According to what Tosfos DH b'Hahi writes that if it is possible to do the two Mitzvos at the same time that we do not say "Osek b'Mitzvah....", one can say that for almost everyone, merely to give a coin to Tzedakah does not disturb concentration on praying.
(b) However I think there is a better answer to your question and this is based on the Gemara Bava Basra 10a which states that Rebbi Elazar used to give a coin to a pauper and then pray. This way he fulfilled the verse (Tehilim 17:15) "I will see Your countenance with charity". This teaches that giving charity is actually a part of Tefilah, as an introduction to it, so in this case it is not appropriate to apply Osek b'Mitzvah Patur Min ha'Mitzvah, because on the contrary giving Tzedakah is actually part of the Mitzvah of praying.
The practice of giving Tzedakah before Davening is mentioned in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 92:10 and may possibly be a source of the Arizal's custom which you carry out in your shul.
Chodesh Tov,
Dovid Bloom
Reb Dovid Thank you for your time and effort.
Amazing! and I wanted to say exactly the opposite.
I imagined to answer along the lines that since/if he actually wants to fulfill the second Mitzvah but is unable to do so because the Torah does not allow him, he is considered an Oynes and therefore Torah gives him credit Keilu Asah! And he saved the money to boot! So in this case, a penny saved is actually much more than a penny earned!
It just shows that my imagination is much greater than my knowledge and I thank you for bringing the Ritva to my attention.
And I also thank you for:
>>(However it must be stressed that Tosfos DH b'Hahi cites Nedarim 33b that the Perutah of Rav Yosef is not frequent, because it is unusual that the pauper should come exactly at the same moment that the finder of the Aveidah is actually looking after the Aveidah.)
which shows that it's unfrequent but still a Mitzvah nevertheless, and perhaps I was not completely out to lunch.
Kol Tuv and a Freylechin Purim to you and your whole family.
Alex Lebovits
Dear Alex,
(1) Yes, I think your answer (based on Kidushin 40a that even if somebody merely thought of doing a Mitzvah but had an Ones and could not perform it, this is considered as if he did it) is also a good one.
(2) I must say that usually I try and answer the questions sent to me fairly quickly and not to brood on them too much but your questions are very good and I sometimes find myself, after I have already sent the answer, thinking more about them. I found that the question of Osek b'Mitzvah Potur Min Hamitzvah with relation to giving Tzedaka in the middle of davening, is dicussed quite a bit in contemporary Poskim.
(a) Rav Chaim Kanyevsky Shlita, in his major work Derech Emunah (Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 10:Tziun Halacha 96) writes that if people come around asking for Tzedaka in the middle of the reading of the Torah, it is possible that one is not obliged to give to them, because of Osek b'Mitzvah Patur Min Hamitzvah see Bava Kama 56b.
The sefer Ishei Yisroel on Hilchos Tefilah, written by my friend and neighbour here in Ramot, Yerushalayim, Rav Avraham Yeshaya Foifer, cites Rav Kanyevsky (chapter 20, note 83) that one is also exempt from giving in the middle of Kerias Shema, because of Osek b'Mitzvah.
(b) However Rivevos Efraim, by Rav Efraim Greenblatt, shlita, of Memphis, (8:23:4 - this is on the Otzar Hachochmah database, by the way) writes that one is permitted to give tzedaka in the middle of davening (obviously he does not mean in the middle of Shemoneh Esreh), especially during Chazoras HaShatz, on the basis of Tosfos Bava Kama 56b that when the aveida is in your house and is automatically safe, one is not exempt from giving the perutah to the pauper. Similarly even though one is davening, it does not disturb one also to give tzedaka, so one should give also during davening.
[I also found an interesting thing in Rivevos Efraim 4:207:12, in the name of his Rebbe, Reb Moshe Feinstein zatsal, that before the start of davening he used to place coins on the table beside him and then when people came collecting in the middle of davening they knew that could take coins from the table].
(c) Rav Moshe Sternbuch Shlita in Teshuvos v'Hanhogos 3:287 writes at length about giving tzedaka during davening. He writes that during Pesukei d'Zimra, since one would hint then even for optional matters, one may also give tzedaka. However he is more machmir during the berachos of Kerias Shema.
(d) Looking at the above psakim, it is possible to answer your question how did the Arizal give tzedaka during Pesukei d'Zimra, certainly according to (b) and (c), although I am not sure about (a).
(e) A few friends of mine also gave my second answer to your question that tzedaka is part of the Mitzvah of Tefillah because it makes the prayers more acceptable to Hash-m. I found that Meiri in Bava Basra 10a writes that the Mitzvah of tzedaka is a "Praklit" - favorable agent - between a person and Hash-m when he davens.
Alex - I enjoy your questions a lot and you have a very lomdisher kop!
Good Shabbos,
Dovid Bloom