Practical Halachic Questions: Matanos LaEvyonim Fees and Kesamim on Tissues

Transcript

One firm shaila somebody asked me. They’ll do the ... shaila. A money collector, ... matpis, man. Rav, a person, a person who collects money for tzedakah has the right to take a certain percentage. What about if a person collects from matanos l’evyonim on Purim? Is he allowed to take a percentage from that? ... mutar lo l’kachat achuzim. אז השאלה היא, אם הוא אוסף כספים בשביל פורים. This was the shaila. What’s the shaila? Maybe Purim is different, because don’t forget, the Purim money is not allowed to be switched to any other tzedakah. So if it was given for the ani, it has to get to the ani, maybe. This was the shaila that someone called me up and... So I looked, I couldn’t find anyone talking about it. Mishnah Berurah doesn’t talk about if you’re allowed to take achuzim. He talks about that case. Let me see. No, the ani keeps the rest for himself. That’s... no? No, it’s over here. Yeah, ... tzedakah acheres, but דווקא גבאים, אבל העני... The ani is talking about something else. That’s not what it’s saying. That’s something else. That’s what I’m telling you. But he’s allowed to take his schar for collecting it. Hey Steve, it’s not tzedakah. This is for himself to collect. It’s a whole different story. He wants... you have to get paid. Here, vad ha’ir. You think all the money that goes in matanos l’evyonim, none of it goes to the people who are collecting? Of course it goes. It has to go. Who pays for all the ads? Who pays for everything? Huh? No, there's a percentage goes for the collector. It's a different story. This is, you're not allowed to take for... But that's the shaylah. Maybe this is called like giving a tzedakah. That's the shaylah. I have a different problem. Most people give exactly what's required, so the minute you take away, you're machsir. Huh? That's a very good question. That was the question. All right? So I was thinking and thinking, and I said to myself, you know what? I have a Marsham. I once saw a Marsham. Yeah, Marsham says, Marsham says like this, that what happens if a person is a gabai tzedakah, and he wants to take and be yotzei with the money that he gave for himself also. So he collected a hundred dollars. So for the guy who gave it, it'll be, and for me also. So he says that you can't do, because it's the ani's money. You can't go and be yotzei matanos la'evyonim, which belongs to the ani. But if there's money that he has the right to take, so with that money he can go and be mekayem matanos la'evyonim. When he has the right to take. Why does he have the right to take it? Now, he didn't say he's keeping it. He isn't giving it back to the ani. But l'chora the reason why he's mekayem matanos la'evyonim, it's really his. He's here, I have the right to take. L'choira, from the Marsham is mashma that you're allowed to take a achuz. Okay. Someone came over to me with a shaylah like this. Rabbi, answer that shaylah? Yeah, that's how I decided, the Marsham. I just wanted to check it over with Reb Elsky, but he wasn't here yesterday. Reb Elsky is probably matzah. Okay, now, another shaylah. Another shaylah, rabosai. Shailah is like this. Asheilai kacha. Listen to the shailah. Listen. If you have a tissue, all right? So we spoke about this. Tissue might be a davar shemekabel tumah, it might be a davar she'eino mekabel tumah. So the person asked me the following question. His wife is nursing, and she saw blood on a tissue. And obviously the tissue never went to a rav, because if it went to a rav, he would see, you know, if it's tahor or tamei. So the shailah is maybe it's tamei because she saw that it looked pretty bad. Could we come and say, ah, it's on a tissue? So we spoke about this, and we said that it's...

Machloikes haposkim. Some say tissues are davar hamekabel tumah, and some say tissues are not davar hamekabel tumah. So he asked me, so what do I do? So he tells me, before I ask you, I want you to know that I went to Rabbi Forscheimer, I went to Rabbi Katz — those are the two dayanim in — and then I went to Rabbi Gansweig, which is a talmid of R' Moshe, and I asked him also. So I'm telling you that I'm asking you after I asked them. So I'm thinking to myself, that's all I need. But halachically, you're supposed to tell a rav, if you're asking a shaila, that you already asked someone. That's right. So that's what he was doing, and I'm thinking to myself, thank you, so don't... Whatever I say is no good, right? I understand. No matter what I say is no good. He wants to hear what I have to say. So I said to myself, you don't worry, who cares? You just say what you feel and that's all. Sheyagidu mah sheyagidu. So I told him like this: Lahalacha, it's probably not a problem. But the way the moire horaah fears, the way they act, is that they say it's a problem, but they use it as a snif lehakel, which means, okay, it's questionable and there's other issues involved also, snif lehakel. Aval stam lehakil rak miglal sheze al tishu... that we don't do. It's running, right? Okay. And then I said... Nursing. Nursing is also sniflako, because since it's mayona chasum, she's not supposed to be seeing blood, she stains. So therefore, you can be meikel also, and this is by Rabbi Roth, they're very meikel when it comes to the nursing, okay. And therefore, well, if you're nursing and you see kesamim, huh? It is, it is. It doesn't have to, you know, especially not in the beginning, you know, she's staining. It's not bleeding, it's staining. She's considered a mesulekes dam. In the beginning, she'd have a source, so she's called a mesulekes dam, okay. So he looks at me, and I'm waiting for him to say, Yeah, but this one said different. So he says to me that he went to Rabbi Forsheimer, and Rabbi Forsheimer told him, What's the shayla? Of course you have to wait five and seven. There's not even what to talk about. He went to Rabbi Katz. Rabbi Katz said, What's there to talk? There's nothing to talk about. It's 100% mutar. There's nothing what to talk about. It's like davar pashut. Why? Because snif l'hakel, and she's nursing. You hear? And— What's the other one? What's the shayla? The other one, he went to three, no? First he went to two. What? Now, what was the third one? We'll soon see what he went to the third one. Kitzer, so he said two things, and that's why he was asking me. The first thing is that this second dayan said a third thing, that it's also yemei tohar, so even the blood she does see is still dam taharah. L'maaseh, we're not meikel on dam taharah. We're not meikel on dam taharah. So the question is, could we say, Yeah, but l'maaseh, be'etzem it's tahor anyway. Sniff, sniff, snifflach. סוף סוף זה דם טהור. So I said, I don't think so. I said, I don't think so. He says, Why not? I said, Because I don't think so. Why not? Oh, it was poil. You came just in the middle of a very heated shaila, all right? Can I repeat the shaila again for you? Okay. No, nursing is a... מיניקה, מיניקה. Nursing is מיניקה. Not nurse, nursing. Okay. Od paam she'eilah. You ready? I told him a person came over to me in Lakewood. He says to me, I want to know your opinion about something. I went to three rabbanim. I went to Rabbi Fohrscheiner, I went to Rabbi Katz, two dayanim in Lakewood, and the third one was Rabbi Gansweig from Brooklyn, from Kensington. Now I want to know your opinion. So I told him, I was thinking to myself, hey, that's what I need. Whatever I say is going to be good, you know? So he tells me like this: nursing, still within the yemei tohar, nursing on tissue paper, stains on tissue paper. So I start saying, stains on tissue...

Tissue paper, shailah damshei, mekabel tumah, she'eino mekabel tumah. So what do we pasken? I said, listen, that's a mitzvah. But l'maaseh, we're not matir it. You do, you do with tzlifim l'hakel. We say, eh, it's anyway on tissue paper, okay. But straight out, we're not meikel on tissue paper. Also, nursing is mayana chasum, so she's a mesulekes damim, so therefore we're more meikel on the mesulekes damim, okay. So he says to me that he went to Rabbi Forsheimer, and Rabbi Forsheimer said, There's nothing what to talk about, vadai asur, five and seven. He went to Rabbi Katz. Kesem, pachot miyoser mikigris, there's nothing, you don't talk about. He went to Rabbi Katz, and he said, There's nothing, there's not even a shailah. Of course it's mutar. Why? Because it's davar she'eino mekabel tumah, slifim l'hakel, and then the cheshbon that it's, no, that it's not ... but it's ... mesulekes dam. So I'm looking at him, okay, so first of all, what do you want from me? And second of all, I mean, what'd you go to the third rav for? What's that all about? Tells me like this: He went back and he asked Rabbi Forsheimer, How could you say davar she'eino mekabel tumah, that it's not called a davar she'eino mekabel? R' Moishe in the teshuvah says that it's a davar she'eino mekabel tumah and it's mutar. So Rabbi Forsheimer told him, But I know that R' Moishe wasn't matir it. I spoke to people and I know R' Moishe was not matir, and he would call asur davar she'eino mekabel tumah, this tissue, he wasn't matir davar she'eino mekabel tumah. What does that mean? It's wrong? Ah, the teshuvah, I don't know. He said it's a tremendous kashya. All my life I had this kashya. Now let me tell you, Rabbi Forsheimer knows everything. No person knows everything. Okay. He looks at me, and he sees that I'm getting angry, because, you know, I grew up — you don't say that about Rav Moshe's truths. You don't come and tell me Rav Moshe wrote one thing and did another thing. You know, I mean, it doesn't work that way. And I also, in the back of my mind, have what I call that experience. That's what they do in Lakewood. There was a tape from Rav Forshheimer about tznius, about — I told this to you. You remember? I said it over. He said over that I heard that they said from Rav Moshe this and that, and it was a lot of I heards, and a lot of it was — and Rav Moshe didn't mean it, and Rav Moshe didn't say it. Rav Moshe said it this way and he meant it that way, and I went crazy. First of all, did you learn by Rav Moshe? You spoke to Rav Moshe? What are you talking about? You want to come and say Reb Aharon held differently, fine. Reb Aharon did hold differently. Reb Aharon was a gadol hador, and he's mareh das for Lakewood — that was his yesod. Reb Aharon's mareh das for Lakewood, and Reb Aharon set away, set the klal, Reb Aharon. He said that, and he was giving it to him. But don't come and tell me that Rav Moshe didn't mean it, because we know that when you hung around Rav Moshe, Rav Moshe meant it, okay? Now, so he tells me — what did he do? He went to Gansvayg. Gansvayg's a talmid of Rav Moshe, and he asked Rav Gansvayg, Tell me, what would Rav Moshe — He said Rav Moshe's zicher didn't asser it, and he used it as a snif lehakel, like exactly what I said. So he saw right away that I was in the right. He was like very, Whoa. I said, You see, I was right. And what did he say? Nursing, nursing, he said, and he said that whatever we said. What he didn't say was another thing. When he went to Katz, Rabbi Katz, they told him, Dam toyar. It's also in the time of Dam toyar, so therefore it's another snif l'hakel. I said, I never heard of that. I never heard the Dam toyar. We asser Dam toyar, so it's a snif l'hakel? I never heard it. So he tells me that Rabbi Katz told him 100% Dam toyar. He went back to Rabbi Gansfried, and Rabbi Gansfried said, We never heard. It's exactly what I told him. Never heard it. I never heard of such a thing, that Dam toyar is a reason to come and be meikel. The two kulos are these kulos: A, that it's a davar she'eino mekabel tumah. Okay. So he says to me, so A, why not? Why not the Dam toyar? And B, what do we do that Rav Moshe said in the teshuva, yes, everybody's saying that Rav Moshe used only as a snif l'hakel, and Rav Moshe Forsheimer is claiming that b'chalal not. So I said, with all due respect, I don't believe it. I don't believe Rav Moshe Forsheimer. I don't believe it. Sorry, I don't believe it. I don't believe that Rav Moshe went from mutar to aser in a teshuva. I don't believe it. Wait a minute. No, wait. No, he said he doesn't know. It's a shvere teshuva. Then, he, Benji, listen to what he... Then they spoke about another inyan. What's the other inyan? The chiluk between a re'iyah and hargashah.

So, kesem and re'iyah. So we spoke about it. It has to do with the amount of flow, and it's niker, and it's noticeable that it's a gush. And I remember you had a hard time with this. I remember you were bothering me with the shiurim, like I told you, a woman knows. Remember I answered you, a woman knows? A rav knows. You look at it, they know. Okay. And then I told you that later I heard on the tape of Reb Delsky that he said such a nusach. You could tell. Okay. Okay. Okay, so... yeah. Okay, achshav... yeah, okay. So Rabbi Forsheimer claimed that there is a shiur. Rabbi Forsheimer amar sheyesh shiur, keshiur chatzi dollar. You take a dollar, either a whole dollar or even maybe a half. You cut a dollar. Yeah, a paper dollar. Okay, half of the dollar. Im yesh ketem sheze yoter gadol mechatzi dollar, ze kvar shiur shel re'iyah. Wait, dollar? Talking about the coin dollar? Dollar. Wait, wait. A whole dollar bill? Take a dollar bill. As much as it has, let's say three inches, that's a shiur of re'iyah. Right. Ani ka'asti, ani... you know, ze kvar lo ya'aleh bishvili. Mati tishma, איך אדם יכול לחדש דבר שלא נשמע בשום מקום? אנחנו אמרנו את כל הספרים. It's לא סתם, it can't be. So he tells me that the mashma'os from Rabbi Forsheimer was that Rav Moshe held like this. Not even made worse. Wait. What did I do? I said, It stops right here. I was on the bus. I said, It stops right here. Rabbi Bluth's son-in-law was on the bus. Rabbi Bluth is a gadol, is a had talmid chacham. I said, Give me his number. We're gonna settle this once and for all right now. I said, I'll show you that you're wrong. Can't be that—you can't be. Rabbi Bluth, the gabbai of Rav Moshe. I called up Rabbi Bluth. Ach, he's so friendly, so nice. I tell him, Rabbi Bluth, let's start with the shiur of the kesef and the this and that. He says to me, No such thing. The way it works is, Lefi ro'os mareh hadayan. Whatever he feels, he feels that it has to do with how you see it. A flow is a flow, a kesef is a kesef. He says, They come to me all the time. ... And it was funny because he said, ... Rav Moshe vadai lo amar. Oh. So that was the nekudah rishonah. Okay. Then I asked him— That guy heard it while he was— Yeah, he was standing right there. I used his phone. What? No, Rabbi Bluth is here from Kensington. He's the Rav of Kensington. I can't hear. What? People come to talk to him bnei Torah. They keep on coming, they're trying to—bnei Torah. It must be that it's out there. It has to do with somebody, obviously. I'm gonna get down to the bottom of the half a dollar. It's gotta come from somewhere. Wait. Listen to the end of the ma'aseh. I tell him, Rabbi Bluth, what about a tissue paper, double-kavod tumah, and— This is listen. Reb Moishe used to look at them. He didn't say, ... He would say, I want to look at it. He didn't say, ... Aval, me'olam ani lo zocher paam shehu asar etza. Reb Moishe—Reb David, gam ken higia elai, v'sha'al oti im ani zocher im ha'aba shelo paam asar etza. V'amarti, ani lo zocher. Reb David amar, gam ken ani lo zocher, shehu asar, aval hu badak, aval hu badak. He says, So I asked, ... אז למה הוא בדק? אז הוא אמר, לאבא שלי היה חשבונות, מותר היה. אני לא זוכר שהוא אסר את זה. That's it. ... He used to go ask him shaila. So what happened? So I understood the teshuva. What's the teshuva? He looked at it. He wanted to make sure it's not a ... call, it's not a re'iyah. If it's a lot of blood just because she came, let's see what it is. And the minute he saw it's not a re'iyah, it's a kesem, and the teshuva is taka correct. Ah, he was in seventh heaven. Now, the only thing is, I do want, I do want, because I remember, first of all...

It was the Chazon Ish who makes the toilet paper to a davar she... Right? It was the Chazon Ish, right? Let's check it up. And also, do we have the Reb Elyashiv sefer, the one with the new psak and the black one? The black one we don't have? Okay, so let's see over here. The Mishmeres says no. Okay, so look it up, look it up. Fish, fish, fish. Look up these two in Yadim. Who? There's tissue there. There's tissue there.