Lottery Tickets and Gambling in Halacha: Asmachta, Mesachek B’Kuvya, and Shabbos Raffles

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Today, be'ezras Hashem, be'ezras Hashem yisbarach, I would like to discuss the halacha of buying a lottery ticket. Is one allowed to buy a lottery ticket? And we'll see the different implications of this halacha, which is beyond the buying of a lottery ticket, how it applies to other situations where people gamble. And I don't only mean gambling, what we call gambling, but even in a setting of a home, you can have situations where something goral, something called a goral, applies, and we'll see the halacha of the goral. So first of all, let me begin by discussing a lottery ticket in the history. For many years, Gedolei Yisrael actually recommended people to buy a lottery ticket. It's a quick way to be able to get parnassah. A story is told about Rabbi Yisrael Salanter that he gave a drasha in the yeshiva saying that a ben Torah should actually go and buy a lottery ticket. Maybe the Eibishter will give him. In a quick moment, his parnassah. But Rabbi Yisrael Salanter said that what's required to win in the lottery, you'll need bitachon. You'll have to have faith in the Ribono Shel Olam that you will win. So, he recommended that people should stop all the work, the jobs they do, and go out and buy a lottery ticket and have bitachon. There was a talmid sitting. The Rebbe said, the Rebbe said that have bitachon and you'll win the lottery. And he did so. He stopped all his side jobs, and he went out and he bought a ticket, and he was all excited. The day of the raffle came. He did not win. He didn't win. So he came back to Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, and he says, Rebbe, you told us that we should buy a ticket, and if we have bitachon, we'll win. Rabbi Yisrael thinks a second or two, and he says, You know what? Buy another one. Buy another ticket. But you really have to stop all your jobs and maybe start selling. You put up your house for sale, you know, the little apartment you have. You'll win. You have bitachon, you'll be able to buy a big house. The person went and he bought another ticket. You know what happened? What do you think happened? He lost again. So he comes back to Rabbi Yisrael Salanter and says, Rebbe, I followed everything you told me, and I had the bitachon, and yet I still lost. Rebbe, you spoke to us and you told us what happened. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter says, Go buy another ticket. He went out and he bought another ticket, and he comes back, and Rabbi Yisrael says to him, Now that you bought the ticket, so let's say you would make a thousand rubles on this ticket, right? That's what you would make if you would win. I'll give you, for this ticket, five hundred rubles. I'll buy it from you. The person thinks to himself, the chances of him winning, and here it's guaranteed. Rabbi Yisrael is ready to buy the ticket from him for half, for half the money. He says, Rebbe, okay, I'll do it. I said, Okay, I got you. That's the story. Had you really had emunah and bitachon that you were going to win, you would have sold it to me for half. Why would you sell me for five hundred if you know for sure that you would make a thousand? And the answer is, the bitachon wasn't fully and complete. Yet what do we see from here? That there was recommendation from tzaddikim, from gedolim, that people should buy a lottery ticket.

Is it mutar to buy a lottery ticket? Is it part of what we know in issur kol gambling? Are you allowed to gamble? So let us learn the sugya and see how it applies not only to lottery tickets, to all forms of goral, people that make a lottery. The Mishnah in Sanhedrin, daf chav-daled amud beis: Ve'eilu hein ha-psulin. The following are pasul l'eidus. They are not fit to be edim, to say testimony. The first one is ha-mesachek b'kuvya. He plays with dice, dice playing to win money. So ha-mesachek b'kuvya is pasul l'eidus. And the Mishnah continues with another case of malveh b'ribis, someone who lends with ribis. And the next case is mafrichei yonim, pigeon betting. They're betting on the pigeons flying, whoever wins. The analogy today would be horse betting. So what do we have? A clear Mishnah that if somebody is a mesachek b'kuvya, he's gambling with dice, or he's mafrichei yonim, he's doing horse betting, he is pasul l'eidus. He's not fit to be an eid. Why not? What is the reason why he is pasul l'eidus? So the Gemara brings two Amoraim, two reasons why this person is pasul l'eidus. The first one is, mesachek b'kuvya. Ask the Gemara, mai ka avid? אומר רמי בר חמא, משום דהוה אסמכתא, ואסמכתא לא קניא. What is asmachta? When you play, you didn't plan to lose. You were hoping you were going to win. So if you lost, you're not really giving the money with full heart. And so the person who's taking it from you is a gazlan. You didn't plan on losing. Anybody who buys a ticket or gambles because he thinks he's going to lose, he's got bigger problems than being pasul eidus, right? So the fact that he is doing this means he's really planning on winning. So when he lost, he gave you the money bal korchei, not really with full daas, with full acceptance. Memeila, you are a gazlan. This is how Rashi explains asmachta, and we pasken according to Rami bar Chama, lo kanya. According to Rami bar Chama, this is not a kinyan. So by taking this money, you are a gazlan, and you have no right to say eidus if you accepted such money. The Rambam in Hilchos Gezeilah, perek vav, halacha vav says that actually you're only a gazlan miderabbanan. And even if you are a gazlan, you're not a gazlan from the Torah. The chachamim said this is a form of gezeilah. I didn't rob him. We made up in advance that this was the agreement, yet, what's the halacha? It's gezel, but only miderabbanan. Reb Sheishes comes with a different reason why the person who is a mesachek b'kuvya is pasul l'eidus. Says Reb Sheishes, mipnei she'eino oisek b'yeshuvo shel olam. He's not involved with yishuv, normal inhabitants of the world. He's not involved, oisek, but society. He's not oisek in yishuv of society. It's not clear exactly what the chisaron is. It's possible the chisaron is that there's something wrong with a person who is busy betting and not working. Normal people, they go to work. A person who doesn't work, and he's busy in the OTB, so to speak, so there's something obviously not norm about this person and the way he thinks. Eino oisek b'yeshuvo shel olam, which makes him a shady eidus. There's something in this person that he's maybe not fit to be an eid. The Rambam doesn't learn that way. The Rambam...

In Hilchos Gezeilah VaAveidah, perek vav explains, ein osek b'yeshuvo shel olam means he's not doing something which is positive for society. A person needs to be osek, be involved in giving to society, to benefiting society. This is not a case where he's being osek b'yeshuvo shel olam. Let us read the Rambam inside. Perek vav, halacha yud aleph, says the Rambam, Hamesachek b'kuvya im hagoy, ein bo issur gezel, aval yesh bo issur. There's an issur. What's the issur? Osek b'dvarim beteilim. He's involved with things which are really nothing. She'ein ra'ui l'adam sheya'aseh kol yamav ela b'divrei chochmah uv'yeshuvo shel olam. A person has to do beneficial things, not things which are a waste of time. And the Rambam calls this what? An issur. It's interesting, issur. I would say that a person not osek b'yeshuvo shel olam, he's pasul l'eidus. The Rambam says he is doing something which is an issur. What's the issur? Batalah. He's doing something which is a waste of time. I've shown many poskim that it's possible to say, according to this Rambam, that if a person is involved in a bet where it is yeshuvo shel olam, it is for the benefit of society, then maybe it's not a problem, per se, if the whole issur is that he's eino osek b'yeshuvo shel olam. So if a person is involved in a lottery, which is beneficial, for example, he does a Chinese auction. And the money for the Chinese auction is for going for a good cause, for a good benefit. So this wouldn't be what Chazal called mesachek b'kuvya, that could be a problem, that we should talk about the issur of eino osek b'yeshuvo shel olam. Okay, rabosai, you all understood. Should we make a one-minute chazarah? Let's make a one-minute chazarah. I want the oilam to hear clearly, because soon we're going to get to the reasons, pro and con. Are you allowed to buy a lottery ticket, and how does it apply? Im yirtzeh Hashem, as I will show you, every Shabbos in the home, this halacha has application. Okay, so again, rabosai, Chazal said that if a person is a mesachek b'kuvya, or a mafrichei yona, he's lottery, he's gambling, he is pasul l'eidus. What is he doing wrong? According to one shita, it's asmachta lo kanya. What does asmachta lo kanya mean? That since the money is being given, when the person loses, he wasn't interested in giving it. It was given forcefully. He was forced to give up the money. It's a type of gezeilah for the person who is taking it. Rambam, is gezeilah min haTorah or is gezeilah midrabbanan? Nu, rabosai, it's gezeilah only midrabbanan. Why am I stressing this? Because we'll soon see that this is a very significant nekudah. It's only a gezeilah miderabbanan. Second shita is Reb Sheshes. What's the issue? Eino osek b'yeshuvo shel olam. The person's a batlan. The person is a batlan. Instead of going to work and being busy with what most people are busy with, productive things, and he's wasting time, therefore the issur of this mesachek b'kuvi is enough to make him a pasul l'eidus. So I point out that maybe we could say that if the person is lottery betting or whatever for a good cause, that maybe it would be okay, that maybe it would be all right. You know, someone once came up with an interesting case. Today they have a custom that they put money into a pot, and they try to lose weight. And whoever wins, loses a certain amount of weight, gets the whole pot. He gets all the money. For loss of weight, they gamble on it. It's a common thing today. I don't know. It's for a good cause, definitely for a good cause. Now the truth also is we need to understand, when a person is oisek b'dvarim beteilim, maybe it's if he's constantly doing it. Who says that the issur is for a one-time, a one-time thing? The Rambam's lashon is here, she'ein raui l'adam sheya'asik...

Some of, ela b'divrei chachmah, o b'yeshiva shel olam. That's if a person's busy with it. If a person only did it once, not constantly buying lottery tickets, then maybe it should be mutar. Now let's discuss the Gemara's nafkamina. The Gemara says that the difference would be if he has umnus acheres, which means he has another job. He's not always relying on the mesachek b'kuvya; he's also, what, working. Most of the time he's working. Says the Gemara, if the problem is asmachta lo kanya, then you have a problem. But if it's what, eino osek b'yeshuvei shel olam, this person has a job, he's working, the Ra'avad paskens that if a person has a job, not a problem. The problem is only if he's yoshev batel. Why? Because the Rambam, which we soon see, seems to pasken like the first pshat in the Gemara, asmachta lo kanya. The Ra'avad is paskening like Reb Sheshes, that the only problem is that he's eino osek b'yeshuvei shel olam. So if a person is a regular job, a nine to six, so he goes in the evenings and he does a little bit on the side, gambling, betting, or whatever it is, can't call him eino osek b'yeshuvei shel olam, and so paskens the Ra'avad. The problem is the Rambam contradicts himself, because the Rambam in Hilchos Gezeilah, as we just read, says that the problem is— There is ein oisek b'yeshuv shel olam. The Rambam in Hilchos Edus, perek yud, halacha daled, says that the problem is that it's a type of a gezel midivreihem. So what do we do with the stirah of the Rambam? Okay, rabosai, do you hear the stirah? It's very important to get the groundwork, the foundation clear, and then you'll see how we could give and take, so to speak. Okay, so do we have the foundation clear that there's two reasons why mesachek b'kuvya is asur? Either mesachek is asmachta lo kanya, which is a gezel mid'rabbanan, or the problem is eino oisek b'yeshuv shel olam. The nafka mina would be that if he has a job, it would be okay. The Ra'avad paskens if he has a job and he's doing this on the side, it's okay. The Rambam says clearly that what's the problem? That it's eino oisek b'yeshuv shel olam, yet the Rambam says clearly in Hilchos Edus that it's gezel mid'rabbanan. This is a very big kasha that the mefarshim on Rambam ask. The Radbaz says an interesting teretz. Radbaz says that actually we need both reasons. The Rambam learned that the asmachta lo kanya, which is only gezel mid'rabbanan, is not enough to make him pasul l'eidus. Why? Because the person, it's only gezel mid'rabbanan, he doesn't think he's doing anything wrong. It's gezel mid'rabbanan, but the guy doesn't understand that he's doing an issur. Therefore, we need also the eino oisek b'yeshuvah shel olam, which comes out a tremendous chiddush according to Rav Baz. Even if a person has a side job, right? I'm sorry, even if you hold asmachta lo kanya and it's a gezeilah, but if he has a side job, it would be okay. He wouldn't be pasul l'eidus. Now, it doesn't become mutar. You understand the difference? If the pshat is that it's only eino oisek b'yeshuvah shel olam, if he has a side job, it would be mutar lechatchilah. It would be mutar. He has a side job. There's no problem. But if the pshat is that it's asmachta lo kanya, that you're not allowed to do it anyway because it's a derabbanan, it's a gezel miderabbanan, so the fact that he has a side job won't help him to be matir making this gezeilah. Okay? Did everyone understand what we just learned? So let's be clear again, rabosai. It's very important. Like I said, once we get the yesod of the halacha, we'll be able to apply it lemaaseh, okay? And soon you'll get very— yes.

What you're talking about now, not that. We're not talking about lottery tickets yet. We're still talking about someone who actually gambles, a mashgambles. Right, we haven't discussed yet to apply it to lottery tickets. So we're talking about mesachek b'kuvi, gambling. Poker, horses. That's right. We're going to soon see that all, everything we just spoke, if you know and understand it well, it applies very much to the question: are you or are you not allowed to buy lottery tickets, okay? So from what you said— Yes. —from the Rambam and the Rabbaz, if you have one condition, which means he has a job, he's not over both averos, which means both conditions. We understand he's not pasul l'eidus, but he still doesn't make it mutar to do it. That's what I want. That's—it's not what I want, but l'choira that's the way. Exactly, it would come out. If you learn that it's either/or, so then you have, if it's yesh lo umnus acheres, so it's not eino osek b'yishuv shel olam. But if you hold that it's aser anyway, al tgezel, you hold it's not going to help you, eino osek b'yishuv shel olam, and that's why the Rambam doesn't bring it. The reason why the Rambam never gave the heter of eino osek b'yishuv shel olam, even though he himself—I'm sorry, he doesn't give the heter of yesh lo umnus acheres, even though he himself quoted that eino osek b'yishuv shel olam, is because you still have the problem that it's gezel mid'rabbanan. It won't help you for the heter to do it. The only thing is, you still need, in order eino osek b'yishuv shel olam, that it should be pasul l'eidus. So what's halacha l'maaseh? So, machlokes, the Mechaber and the Rama, the Meran and the Rama. In Shin Ayin, says the Shulchan Aruch like this: Yesh mi she'omer, Shin Ayin, se'if gimmel, yesh mi she'omer, shehamesachek b'kuvya, hagoy, ein bo משום גזל. The goy, not a Yid, but by the goy. But you do have what problem of eino osek b'yeshuvo shel olam, dvarim beteilim, she'ein adam ra'ui la'asok kol yamav ela b'divrei chochmah u'vyeshuvo shel olam. V'chalku alav lomar, those that argue with him, to say, she'eino pasul ela im kein ein lo umnus acheres, which means the ra'avad, that if he has an umnus acheres, then there's no problem. Now notice he said a goy. What about by a Yid, by a Jew? You still have the problem of maybe asmachta lo kanya, and therefore it's aser. Shitas haMechaber is that to buy a lottery ticket, let's say gambling with a Jew and he loses, there's a problem of asmachta lo kanya, that it's gezeilah mid'rabbanan. It's only—just don't forget—it's only derabbanan, and it's gezeilah from a goy, so therefore it's mutar. The Rabbanan didn't aser it only by a Yid. Asmachta lo kanya, that issue will only be by a Yid. The Rama comes along and says, Aval im yesh lo umnus acheres, afilu mesachek b'Yisrael eino pasul, because he's pasul like who? Like the— Raivid, he paskens like the Raivid. V'ayin l'il siman reish zayin, u'kvar pashta minhag b'sfara acharoina, l'sachek b'kuvya, v'ein pasul mi'shein lo umnus acheres. Minhag? You're allowed to gamble as long as you have an umnus acheres. So, you have another job. It's not that you're wasting your day away. You have a job. So once you have a job, and on the side you want to do a little gambling, it's mutar. So let's discuss, rabosai, halacha l'maaseh. Yeah, let's discuss halacha l'maaseh. So according to this, Sefardim who follow shitas Maran would have a problem to buy—actually, let's say gamble with another Jew because of asmachta lo kanya, while the Rama would hold that it's mutar. Chacham Ovadia, in the teshuvos, in Yabia Omer, chelek zayin, siman vav of Choshen Mishpat, paskens that you're not allowed to buy a lottery ticket because of asmachta lo kanya, this shita of the Mechaber. But when you understand the teshuva, you'd realize that that's only according to the shita of the Mechaber, that that's by a Jew. But by a goy, it's not asur. By a goy, that's not a problem. So when he talks about the issur of buying a lottery ticket, you need—

Understand, that's an act of shtral. He didn't talk about it in America. A minority of... So the truth is, we need to discuss that, why that would maybe be better, because it's such a small minority. But we need a little more to understand the concept of a lottery ticket, which we're going to get to in a minute. But I just need to say, like, when they talk about the teshuva of Chacham Ovadia, that you're not allowed to buy a lottery ticket, it's clear that it's only based on this mechaber, and this mechaber is goy mutar, Yisrael aser. So if it's not by a... and you're asking a good question. There are a lot of Jews involved in the lottery, so let's discuss the concept of the lottery. So first of all, many want to say that the whole sugya of mesachek b'kuvya is not really lottery. Mesachek b'kuvya and lottery are not the same sugya, and therefore, just because the mechaber, Maran, says that you're not allowed to gamble, doesn't mean what? You're not allowed to buy a lottery ticket. Why? When a person bought a lottery ticket, he didn't expect to win, really. It's a pipe dream that he's going to win. What did Rashi explain? That you really expect to win, so when you lost, you're upset that you're giving the money. When it came to a lottery ticket, you gave the money, you didn't really... you're hoping maybe, the chances maybe, ulai, ulai, ulai, maybe you'll win. There's a very nice story from Reb Chaim MiBrisk, beautiful, interesting story. A Jew once came to him to ask him if he should buy a lottery ticket. Remember, I told you many Gedolim gave advice to buy lottery tickets. So this Jew wanted to know if it's a good idea, if it's the right thing to do. Reb Chaim told him, Please wait in the waiting room. Wait in the waiting room. The guy was waiting. After 20 minutes, he knocks on the door, Rebbe, did you forget about me? Did you forget? He said, No, no, please go back and wait in the waiting room. Go back. He waited another half an hour. He knocks on the door again, Rebbe, waiting. Go back. Go back and wait. There was nobody in the room with Reb Chaim, so he was very, like, getting nervous, itchy. Why is he not taking me? Why is he making me wait? After two hours, he knocks on the door. He says, Rebbe, you made me wait for two hours. What's going on? He says, Listen to me. You came to ask me if you should buy a lottery. What are the chances that you would win? It's one in who knows what, right? Whatever the odds are. You know it's raining outside. It's thundering. The chances of you getting hit by lightning is a better chance than you winning the lottery. So, l'shitatcha, according to the way you view things, you better not go outside because it's dangerous for you. A person like you that believes that you might win the lottery, someone like you better be careful. You could probably get hit by lightning also, faster than you win the lottery. What's the point? When a person goes into a lottery... He never expected to fully win. So the fact that he's giving up the dollar for the kartis, for whatever he paid for, whatever, ten dollars, fifteen, it's not that he's upset, so to speak, that he lost. There's another svara that the Acharonim bring down, that when you gamble between people, there is a problem of mesachek b'kuvya in case you lost. But let's say it's a lottery; it's really state-run. So there's no individual that you're stealing from. It's a state-run thing. It's a pool that the government puts together, and therefore this is not that I am giving up to you and that I was upset that you're getting it, and m'meila you can't compare it to mesachek b'kuvya. There's another svara that the Acharonim speak about, and that is that today the lottery ticket itself has value. If you're mesachek b'kuvya, so what are you doing? You're putting money in a pot, and whoever wins will get it. You're upset that you lost it. But here you bought, you bought.

A kartis, you bought a lottery ticket. So it's like buying a chance to play the lottery. That kartis, that card, the lottery ticket, has value. You paid for what you paid for it. So therefore, there's no mesachek b'kuvya when you're involved with buying a lottery and being part of the lottery ticket. There's another sevara that the Acharonim say, that when a person bought the lottery ticket, it's the money in advance. The money's already there. You know when you feel very bad to pay? It's after the gamble was lost. After the gamble was lost. So now you have to pay. You didn't expect to lose, but if you gave the money in advance, then there's no sevara that I feel bad that I lost the money. The money's gone already, so to speak. The money's already in the pot. Now I lost what I put down in the pot. Therefore, it's not the same story of mesachek b'kuvya, and mimeila it becomes mutar. So this is the nidon. The nidon is, should we say that even according to the shita of the Mechaber, Meran, that says that you're not allowed to gamble, maybe a lottery ticket is not the same issue as gambling. And even if you're going to say it is, like I just told you before, maybe that's only where in Eretz Yisrael, where a big chelek of the people are Yidden. But where it's a question of a lottery from goyim, Mechaber says clearly that from goyim you're allowed to make this lottery. Now I want to tell you two interesting questions that come up all the time. First of all, what happens when a wife bought a lottery ticket and she won? Does she have to share that money with her husband if she's still keeping her husband after she won the lottery? It's a very, very complex topic. Why? Whose money did she use to buy? Yes. Sorry, can I go back to one second? No, I'd love to. If you only knew how much I'd love to learn with you more than to say the shiur in halacha. What you said about right now, those two points, number one about buying something— Yes. —taking something that's worth some money, a lottery ticket, and then putting money into a pot— Yes. —putting it in a van. Those two concepts both apply to poker, can't they? So the truth is, I jumped and I really wanted to say that. I wanted to say that by poker, you're buying the chips, maybe. You're buying the chips and you're giving a pot in advance. Correct, correct. Or maybe subliminally, I didn't want to say you should go play poker. Maybe somewhere in my neshama I was thinking, don't say you're allowed to go poker. But yes, I was thinking of applying it to poker, and it slipped my mind for the last second. Yes, by poker I'm buying the chips, and I'm also, what, putting it in the pot in advance so you can have these heterim. Now again, I'm not telling you you should gamble, okay? And if a person, you know, he has an umnus acheres, if he's busy with poker, he won't have an umnus acheres for too long, you know what I mean? Unfortunately. And then this becomes his umnus. You know, it's one thing leads to another. So I'm not here to justify. I'm just talking halachically: is it mutar or is it asur? So even— no, no, good, good, good. This is the question, right? Okay. So the first shaila is the wife who won the ticket. That's a nice shaila, complicated shaila, all right? Because the money that comes in, is it nichsei milug? Is it considered the husband's? The ticket came from the husband. I think if they're fighting about it, they really need a rav anyway. So the rav should pasken the shaila, yes. So that's something else, because the wife going to work is work, and there's a special thing called ma'aseh yadayim. And I appreciate the question because that's what I'm getting back to. Poker is not your work. I hope playing lottery is not her job, right? I hope they have an umnus acheres besides the playing of the lottery. Playing the lottery is a side thing that came from Shamayim as a present. So the question is, how do we view that? Another famous issue is, a lot of times you have many people together pooling. They say, you know, go and buy us the three tickets for the group, right, for the whole office. The guy went, he bought the ticket for the office, yeah, and then they won. And then you know what the guy says to the people in the office? Who? Who are you?

I haven't met you. I don't think we've met before. It's a whole shaila. They never put any money into it. And even if they did put money, moyes is not koneh necessarily, right? But there's my word. I asked you to do so what? Okay, so I'll give you a nice word on Shabbos. I'll tell you good Shabbos. Therefore what? Now what? It's a very big shaila. If they pool together without a kinyan, and the ticket wins, who ends up with the money? Very nice question, okay? These are complicated issues, and I really want to stick more to the sugya of the lottery. How about a Chinese auction for yeshivas? Okay, so let's talk. According to Chacham Ovadia, it's Jews, you have a problem. The Chinese auction for the yeshiva is what? No? It's all Yidden, right? The what? Asmachta lo kanya. It's a big, huh? It's a nice, it's a nice sugya. What do you do with all these Chinese auctions for the yeshivas? So let me hear now if you understood the sugya well. Let's talk, no? I'm putting the money in advance. Good. Yeah, a lottery, a Chinese auction. No, but that's the— I don't mean auction. A Chinese, when they auction off something. It's like a raffle. So you put the money in advance. Okay. Okay, so then you don't have that heter, okay? But which heter— let's see, do you have any of the other heterim? Yeah, but we said if asmachta lo kanya. Bishloim if you learn like the Rama, if you pasken like the Rama, Ashkenazim don't have a problem with the whole gambling, so to speak, with the whole auction, with the whole lottery. They don't have an issue. But if you hold like Maran, that there's a problem of gezel, which is mesachek b'kuvya, what about a Chinese auction? What do you do? Yes? Beautiful. Okay, so there's three sevaros, okay, that are used. All right. The first svara that's used is it's for tzedakah, and since it's for tzedakah, what is it? It's gezel mid'rabbanan, remember? Now you see, you're listening to a shiur for four, whatever, half hour, forty minutes, and you say, Oh, he's going on and on with the Rambam, with the Rama. There's a reason. Once you put it all together, it's beautiful. It's a beautiful, beautiful sugya, rabosai, as is all sugyas haShas, as every halacha is. And that is, if you understand what the issue is, at best, according to the Rambam, it's only a gezel midivreihem. It's not real gezeilah. So since it's for tzedakah, it's not what the chacham said is a problem. See, when you talk about ein osek b'yeshuva shel olam, that's if you follow the Rama strictly, and you follow the shita of Rav Psheisha strictly, that it's ein osek b'yeshuva shel olam, and especially like I told you in the beginning of the shiur, that since you're doing it for a positive thing, that's not an issue, right? Unless, let's say you have a person that what he does is he, instead of going to work, he goes from one Chinese auction to another, which is possible today. If you take a look at all the things, everything they're auctioning off, everything today, this yeshiva and that yeshiva. Imagine a person, that's his job. He goes from one auction to another auction to another auction. So he's not going to work, and he has to have an umdena acheres. Yeah, but still, since it's only, since it's for the sake of— Staka. So you can't say that he's dvarim beteilim, and the mechaber that says that, v'hasmachta lo kanya, it's only gezel midiv—no, midiv reihem. There's another svara, that by the Chinese auction, a person's happy if he loses; he doesn't care. The whole svara is that the person is upset, so the money that you're taking is really something that the person didn't want to give, since the person is trying to give the money, and grada, it's nice how he might win a lottery; it's a good—what do you call that?—good incentive, a good, huh? Fringe benefit. So mimeila, therefore it's not a problem. Now I want to tell you there's a beautiful Ben Ish Chai, rabosai. The Ben Ish Chai in the teshuvos, in Rav Pe'alim, chelek beis, Yoreh Deah siman lamed, he says that we can make a very big chiluk: where it's money, where it's money that you're giving to the other—

Person, you lost. He won. You're giving him the money. That's where there's a problem of mesachek b'kuvya, asmachta lo kanya, gezel midivreihem. But by the Chinese auction, the raffle is for what? For a specific item. So whoever wins is getting a specific item. Therefore, there's no problem of mesachek b'kuvya. Even if you hold asmachta lo kanya, that's money. Money. When you lost, now you have to understand there's a deep thing behind there. The worst thing is you lost. Not so much that the other guy has your money, walking away counting your money. That's what bothers you more than anything else. There's a very nice story from the Beis Halevi. The Beis Halevi once said that we have to think about the insight of human condition. If a person comes to a rav, and the rav tells him that this animal is treif, you know how much money an animal—it's a lot of money. He'll throw it out. Who's going to eat treif? No one's going to eat treif, right? If, let's say, he has a din Torah, a court together, a fight, a din Torah with somebody else, it could be over a hundred dollars. He'll kill each other. What's the big deal, okay? And when the rav says you're wrong, and he's right, and you're wrong, and you better pay him, what do you mean? It's only a hundred dollars. Here you're ready to lose a thousand dollars, and here for a hundred dollars you can't swallow the fact that the rabbi said that you need to pay him. And what's the answer? That's right. As long as I don't have to pay you, as long as it doesn't mean that I can throw out the thousand dollars, but to give you a hundred dollars, that's not easy. So let's discuss over here what's bothering you. If the person walks away with your cash, that could be a problem. But if you threw money into a lottery about an item, a specific item, for example, a Leuchter, a candelabrum, okay, so even though theoretically, theoretically, the candelabrum is somewhat bought from the money that was put into the pot, yeah, but it's not that that guy walked away with your money, says Rav Poyalim, Chelek Beis, Yoreh Deah, siman lamed, that therefore it is mutar. Now, as I told you, this applies, interestingly, on a regular Shabbos. You ready? Let's learn an interesting halacha. You know, in every home, children, they fight over, just for an example, who gets the red ices and who gets the orange ices, yeah? No, they don't do that in your house? Okay, give me a good example. I mean, in my house they fight over everything, but you give me a good example, all right? Who gets the top, who gets the bottom chicken, right? I don't know, yeah? Anything else? Okay, you get the point. So what does the father do? The father says, you know what? Let's make a lottery who wins this and who wins that. Are you allowed to make such a lottery on Shabbos, huh? Okay, so let me show you, this is mefurash in the Shulchan Aruch. In Siman Shin Chav Beis, ha-mechalek livnei beiso manos b'Shabbos. If they want to divide manos, portions, who gets this portion, who gets this portion? Chayim, the older son, will get this; David, the younger one, will get... And how does he want to do it? Lehatil goral. He wants to make a lottery: who wins. Lomar, l'mi sheyatza goral, ploni yechalek, ploni, whoever gets A will get this piece, whoever B will get this piece. The halacha is it's only mutar if the chalakim are shavim, that they're both equal, that they're both the same. So you'll ask me a question: so why do you have to have a lottery if they're both the same, right? If they're different, you understand why he's making a lottery. What's the answer? People fight even over that too. It's a Shulchan Aruch, rabosai, it's such a beautiful piece of Shulchan Aruch. He says that the reason is in order k'dei lashvaisam, shelo yehatil kina beinayhem. They're going to think, No, that's the bigger piece. No, no, no, that's the bigger piece. I'm getting the better one. I'm getting the better... So therefore you're allowed to make a lottery because there's really no big difference between the first portion and the second portion. Aval im acheirim, but if you would do the same thing not with the people of your house, with others.

Not just your family members, other people, the halacha is aser. Why? כיון שמקפידים זה על זה, יבואו לידי מידה ומריבה. You're gonna come and weigh, right? If it's not important who gets the bigger and the smaller, a tiny drop, okay, family members will give in. But if it's between strangers, you might come and say, No, no, no, let's see if it's a midah mishkal, right? So it's a gezeirah that you're not... Interesting, huh? Okay. Says the halacha, yeah. אבל ליתא מנה גדולה כנגד מנה קטנה, לא תגרע אפילו בני ביתו. If you are making a bigger portion, smaller portion, that would be aser even where? No, even in your own house. So for example, if, I guess it's the red ices or chveis, the yellow ices, it might be a problem, huh? Makpid. I'm very makpid to see, to make sure that it has to be exact. You got more, you got less. Could be where there's akpadah, there would be a problem. Says the Shulchan Aruch, and you know what this problem is? אפילו בני ביתו ובחול אסור. This would be aser even to do on a weekday. Why? No. What could be the aser? On Shabbos you might come to weigh it. On the weekdays, where's the problem? No. I bring it in this shiur, what's it about? No. ... You know, have the ... Here, I gamble. What are you gambling? I'm gambling to get the better piece of the chicken. You're not a gamble. Not a gamble. ... You hear? V'yesh omrim, says the mechaber, some say, d'banim l'beisו mutar l'alter, goyer afilu al menas gedolah k'neged katanah, she'ein makpidim. Comes along the Mishnah Berurah, and the Mishnah Berurah explains, why is it aser? Says the Mishnah Berurah, b'acherim vadai aser b'chol, kol shem Shabbos, d'kuvya dami l'mekach u'memkar. Kuvya is dami l'mekach u'memkar. So this would be forbidden on Shabbos because it's like a type of what? Of business. But why is it aser b'chol? No? Because it's mesachek b'kuvya. Yeah, so according to the Rama, this is okay. Are we allowed to do it, huh? Rabosai, according to the Rama, it should be mutar. V'lishlam according to the mechaber, according to the Ramban Yosef, right, there's a problem of making a lottery, so you won't be able to make this lottery. Mesachek b'kuvya. But if it's what, according to the Rama, it should be mutar. Mishnah Berurah says an interesting thing here. Mishnah Berurah says that there's also an issue here. Here. U'v'kuvya hu avak gezel, mi'divreihem, she'ein da'ato liknos b'kinyan gamur, u'l'hachi aser af b'chol. Asks the Mishnah Berurah, but wait a minute, where's the makpid? What are you— and whose is it? It belongs to me. What do you mean it's mine? How could you talk about what gezeilah? It's the father's. I can do whatever I want. You never heard such expression? Who here's father? No, no fathers here. I can do what I want. What do you mean? How come everyone's laughing? Mishnah Berurah asks this very kasha. Fregt the Mishnah Berurah, I don't understand. How could you talk about gzeilah? It all belongs to the father, says the Mishnah Berurah. I cut, mikom makom asur, dilma asi lisruchei bekupya im acheirim. If you do this, it'll lead to gambling, and gambling is asur. Wow. Yeh, chaveisa, yeh, Mishnah Berurah. In case you do this gamble, so to speak, this lottery between the kids, because maybe this will lead to what? You know, I like gambling. Especially with children, you're teaching children to gamble, huh? He's going like back and forth. What are you looking up? It's a Mishnah Berurah. I didn't make it up. It's right here. It's right here. Okay, so what do we see from over here? That you're not allowed to do a lottery, period. And l'choira this is even according to the Rama. Now the question is, but the Rama is matir it. Chacham Ovadia, bechochmato, will be yediaato is very busy with this question because the Rishonim are busy with it.

Now, the truth is, I don't want to go into, delve into it, because it's a very long, complicated topic. How do you explain the Rama with this halacha in Shin Chav Bet? It's one of the famous questions on the topic. But I do want to show you how an implication lahalacha, okay? A lot of times you have pirchei. The kids, they bring them Shabbos, right, to come to shul. They come to, they'll say Tehillim, and what do you give them? A raffle. Are you allowed to make a raffle on Shabbos? So let's discuss it. If it's tzorech mitzvah, you're allowed to have a raffle. But is that mutar on Shabbos? Ah, it's a whole different—there's two topics here, right? One is the issue of, Nu, rabbei, tzugs, tell me, nu, mesachek, because so that we can get away with, because it's a tzorech of mitzvah, right? But if the issue is mekach u'memkar, it looks like you're doing business on Shabbos, that you can't get away with with tzorech mitzvah. Ah, now you're asking a great question. Mishnah Berurah talks about this. Are you allowed to go and make a lottery for the mitzvahs on Shabbos? Okay, says the halacha as follows. Mishnah Berurah: B'Shabbos, ayin Magen Avraham, d'afilu im hu dvar mitzvah, even if it's a dvar mitzvah, v'loyahava matzi l'me'eved me'atzmo, gam kein asur b'Shabbos. You can't make a lottery who's going to get which aliyah on Shabbos, according to Mishnah Berurah, Magen Avraham. Now, I do want to read to you an interesting piece of the Mishnah Berurah here. He says like this: ... shem mashma she'eino mutar rak l'hatil goral mitoch hasefer, aval l'hatil goral tipiskaiyos nichtav me'erev Shabbos... Shama, kula alma matilin b'kalvim metziin piska mi'she'alah l'sefer Torah, asur. Which means, even if it's a question of, here, hagah, v'asur l'hatil goyrel b'Shabbos afilu eini Yehudi, says the Mishnah Berurah, this is even asur. If you're taking, like, out of a hat, a lottery out of a hat, even for aliyot. You understand? Which means this issur that we have to take a goyrel on Shabbos would be asur even if it means the question who gets the aliyah, if it's done with a hat system, for halacha. Now, what's your question? How can we sell aliyahs on Shabbos? That's the most famous question. How could you sell aliyahs on Shabbos? Yeah, what? That's what the raya is. So let me show you what—you know what, let me read you the whole Mishnah Berurah. It's beautiful. You saw this Mishnah Berurah before; you asked this on your own, huh? Beautiful. Listen, listen. Okay, now it says, Hainu im hu l'chalek איזה דבר, afilu makom d'aslan tzui, aval l'hatil goyrel miyom kaddish, oi mi sheyaleh laTorah, shari. If a person wants to make a goyrel who is going to get the aliyah on the Sefer Torah, it's mutar. Why? Sheharei hayu mefaisin b'Shabbos b'Mikdash. They made a payis. Who is what going to get in the Beis HaMikdash? Mi shochet, mi zorek. You see, clearly on Shabbos you're allowed to do that, says the Mishnah Berurah. That's only if it's not out of the hat. How did they do a payis in the Beis HaMikdash? Put out fingers, right? They put out the fingers, and whichever number it reached, that's mutar. But to go and make a regular goyrel, like what we call goyrel. That's aser even on Shabbos for an aliyah. That's not what the Gemara talks about, says the Mishnah Berurah, and that would be aser. So it comes out that if you want to make a lottery, what do you call that for the kids when they make the thing? It's called a lottery. What's it called? Huh? A raffle. That's the word. So are you allowed to make a raffle? Tzarich mitzvah, you're allowed to gamble, but tzarich mitzvah doesn't mean you're allowed to make a raffle. It's not so poshut. Many poskim say the raffle shouldn't be done on Shabbos. When should you do the raffle? After Shabbos. Now the question becomes, are you allowed to give them the ticket on Shabbos for the raffle that's after Shabbos? It becomes muktzah, no? It's a nice question. My rebbe, Rav Belsky, zecher tzaddik livracha, very much strongly recommended that what they should do is give out the tickets after Shabbos. They shouldn't give the tickets on Shabbos. You know what the problem is? You have to have an honest system, right? Because how do you know? You can't write down who learned what and who did what and how many tickets he deserves. So you're going to have to—

Believe him what? How much he learned and how much he did. So guess what? You're gaining two things. You're teaching him what? Not only not to gamble, but you're also teaching him to be honest. Because he has to come after Shabbos and say, and you have to trust him, how many Mishnayos he learned. And then it becomes mutar. Yes, what's your question? Yeah, what's your question? So you're just agreeing to everything we just said. Okay, so this becomes the... Yes. Mekach memkar. It looks like commerce. Mishnah says this looks like commerce. Now, if it was just goyrol, right, so then we could start talking about mitzvah. But if it's not a mitzvah, then you can't make the goyrol. Why not? Because maybe, asur lasruchi, he might start teaching a child how to get into gambling. So here's the very nice famous shaila, and with this I'll end, Baruch Hashem, I got to the minute, okay? Could you play games about gambling? Let's say you have one of these type of games, you gotta gamble. Monopoly is gambling? I don't know if Monopoly is... Are there any—I'm not so baki, I'm not so frequent—but is there any board games, and I always just say, I look at them as board games, yes, compared to Torah it's very boring. So is there any board games that you have to roll the dice, so to speak? Shesh-besh, there you go. Are you allowed to be mesachek b'kuvya? Now, do you have to keep a cheshbon on paper? Huh? You don't have to for shesh-besh, you don't have to keep a cheshbon on paper. Is there any gambling involved? But there's a gamble a little bit, right? There's a little bit of gambling. Okay, so that's the famous shaila. What do you do, goyrol on Shabbos for children? Is there a heter to do these type of games on Shabbos? You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.