KollelBoker: Does one need to give maaser on a present?

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Vol. 1 Iss. 31

פרשת קרח

We would like to wish mazal tov to Rabbi Goldman's Gemara shiur which will be making a siyum on maseches Kesubos on Sunday July 17th at 5 p.m.. The siyum will take place at Rabbi Schmidman's shul. We will be joined by Rabbi Dovid Goldman.

Gemara Shiur will be starting maseches Brachos on Tuesday, July 5th. Additionaly the halacha shiur at night will be learning halachos that are connected to the daf learned that week.

Dvar Torah

By: Rabbi Goldman

As we all know, Hashem created us and He created everything in the world for our benefit. There is a big mitzva to thank Hashem for all that He has done for us. We are also responsible to recognize that we owe Him everything. As a result, we must listen to anything that Hashem tells us to do.

In order to fulfill our responsibilities of "Thanking Hashem" and "Being dedicated to serving Him "we must beleive that Hashem has done us a favor by creating us and giving us the life that He has given to us. To whatever extent that we think that our lives are great, to that degree that we will be able to achieve these goals.

Therefore, it seems that it is necessary to spend a lot of time analyzing our lives and making sure that we develop a perspective that our lives are great and that we have so much to be thankful for. It seems that this is a major part of Avodas Hashem - to develop this perspective - that life is great.

The intellectual knowledge that "life is great" can bring us to a certain level of thanking and serving Hashem. However, the more that we "feel" that "life is great" the more we can be thankful!

Dvar Halacha

By: R' Chananya Berman

Question: Does one need to take maaser from a gift?

Discussion: There are two different categories of gifts and each has its own halacha,

The first category is a monetary gift. Everyone agrees that such a gift requires one to separate maaser from it. The exception to this rule is if the giver specifically tells him not to separate maaser. The reason is that one is not allowed to use a gift for something other then what the giver allows (Choshen Mishpat 241:5 Sm"a 16). However, if one is able to he should separate maaser from his own money. If one's parents give a gift for a specific purpose then we assume that they do not want him to take off maaser since they will have to give more to cover the maaser. If, however, the parent gives a gift for general use the child would have to separate maaser (Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurebach).

There is a dispute as to whether one must separate maaser on a non-monetary gift. One opinion is that maaser must be taken based on the value of the item (Rav S.Z. Aurebach). Others maintain that one would only have to separate maaser if he would have purchased the item on his own and now does not have to.

According to the second opinion there is a question which comes up; a person received an item that he would have bought as a present. But, he would have a bought a cheaper substitute. What amount does he give maaser on? This is also subject to debate. One opinion holds he must give maaser on the amount that he would have spent for the item, in this case the cheaper one. Others Say that one should estimate the amount he would be willing to pay for the more expensive item and separate maaser from that.

However, the accepted custom is not to separate maaser from a non-monetary gift. This is the opinion of many poskim such as Rav Chaim Kanievsky and the Chazon Ish, as well as others.

Summary:

If one receives a monetary gift maaser must be separated unless the giver stipulates that he is giving it on condition that no maaser is taken off. If ones parents give money for a specific expenses then maaser need not be taken off. The accepted custom is not to separate maaser form a non-monetary gift. But, as there is a dispute in the matter a rav should be consulted.

For all practical questions please ask your Rav.