Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon [Shabbat Bi-shabbato Ki Tavo]

 

Question: Is the chazzan who leads the services or the one who blows shofar allowed to accept payment for doing this job on the High Holidays?

 

Answer: The Rashba was asked as follows: "Which is to be preferred – a hired chazzan or one who volunteers to lead the prayers?" [volume 1, 450]. He replied that the chazzan who is being paid should be preferred. He explains that a volunteer might cause a controversy in the community, while when a chazzan is hired for pay there is less of a chance of a dispute. Later rabbis added that a man who has received a salary for the job will be more careful to be precise in his prayers and will make a greater effort to please the congregation, in order to be worthy of his salary. (See Magen Abraham 53:25).

 

The opinion of the Rashba is quoted in the halacha in the laws of prayer (Orach Chaim 53:22) with respect to the prayers every day of the week. However, in the laws of Rosh Hashana it is written in the Shulchan Aruch that one who accepts payment for blowing shofar or reading the Torah on Rosh Hashana will not see a blessing from the money that he receives. The reason for this is that the pay is for work that was performed on Shabbat and on a holiday.

 

In spite of the desire to avoid paying for work done on Shabbat and on a holiday, many of the early and later commentators have written that the prevailing custom is to pay a salary to a chazzan and to the one who blows shofar. The responsa of the Rashba, which served as the basis for the ruling in the Shulchan Aruch, addresses this issue too. The Rashba writes that the accepted custom is to pay for somebody to blow the shofar. In the laws of Shabbat, the author of the Shulchan Aruch mentions that some rabbis are lenient and feel that since leading the prayers and reading the Torah are mitzvot one can be paid a salary for doing them on Shabbat (Orach Chaim 306:5).

 

In addition to the above, some rabbis permit "swallowing" the pay for Shabbat in other payments. Thus, the money would be paid as a higher than usual price for work that was done during the week, so that the amount would also cover the work done on Shabbat. The chazzan and the shofar blower must prepare themselves and practice for their work, and they can therefore take pay for these preparations and not for the work done on the holiday itself.

 

We can add to these considerations the preference stated above for hiring a chazzan, since he will then be more careful to do his job in a professional and satisfactory way. (Of course in places where the custom has been not to pay a chazzan, this custom should not be changed.)

We note that even though a chazzan and a shofar blower have been given permission to take a salary, they must make a strong effort during the prayers to concentrate on the essence of the prayers and not to pay attention to the monetary aspects of their job!

 

 

"Eiruv Tavshilin" for One who will not Cook on Rosh Hashana [Also from the Star K website]

 

Question: This year the second day of Rosh Hashana is right before Shabbat. Is somebody who does not plan to cook on the holiday for Shabbat required to perform the ritual of "Eiruv Tavshilin," which allows him or her to cook for Shabbat?

 

A fundamental difference between Yom Tov observance and Shabbos observance is the allowance of ochel nefesh, food preparation on Yom Tov. "Ach Asher Yei'achel L'Chol Nefesh Hu Levado Yei'aseh Lachem..."  The Torah permits us to cook, bake, and prepare food on Yom Tov proper, in order to eat the prepared food on that day of Yom Tov. One is not permitted to prepare from one day of Yom Tov for the second day of Yom Tov or for after Yom Tov. This prohibition of hachana, of preparing from one day of Yom Tov to the next, presents a problem when the second day of Yom Tov falls out on Shabbos or when Shabbos follows a two day sequence of Yomim Tovim. Can one halachically prepare food on Yom Tov for the Shabbos Yom Tov or for Shabbos?

To deal with this issue our Rabbis instituted a procedure known as eruv tavshilin.  The process of eruv tavshilin works in the following manner. On Erev Yom Tov, the head of the household, or his designee, should set aside a baked item such as bread or matzoh, and a cooked item such as meat, fish, or eggs (i.e. a food that is eaten along with bread). Each item should be at least the size of one kezayis, preferably the size of one beitzah. He or she should then recite the blessing of "Baruch...Al Mitzvas Eruv" and the proclamation, both found in the Siddur. This proclamation states that the cooked and baked items should permit us to continue baking, cooking, lighting a flame from an existing fire and do all the necessary preparations from Yom Tov proper to Shabbos. It is now viewed as though meal preparations for Shabbos have already begun before Yom Tov and Shabbos meal preparations may continue on Friday Yom Tov, Erev Shabbos.

Once done, the eruv covers all household members and guests.

The foods set aside for the eruv should be saved and may be eaten on Shabbos.

If one forgot to make an eruv tavshilin one should consult a competent Rabbinical authority for further instructions.

 

 As the name implies, the purpose of an eiruv tavshilin is to mix together the Shabbat and holiday meals, and to change them conceptually into one long meal. We are therefore allowed to cook food for Shabbat during the holiday. Thus, since the eiruv is made as a way to enhance the honor of Shabbat, it would seem that somebody who will not need to cook on the holiday does not need an eiruv tavshilin.

 

However, the rabbis have instructed us to make an eiruv tavshilin in every home, for several reasons. First of all, there is a dispute by the early commentators whether one who has not made an eiruv is allowed to light the Shabbat candles. The Shulchan Aruch rules that we can be lenient (Orach Chaim 527:19) and that the candles can be lit even if an eiruv was not made, since we derive a benefit from them on the holiday itself (the candles are of course lit before Shabbat, when the holiday is still in effect). But the Shulchan Aruch mentions the more stringent ruling, and Mishna Berura writes that many people take this opinion into account. Thus, even one who does not plan on cooking during the holiday will certainly light Shabbat candles, and an eiruv tavshilin is still necessary. (See also Responsa Mishneh Halachot volume 7, 74.)

 

In addition, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch writes that an eiruv should be considered as a rabbinical mitzva (Moadim U'Zemanim, volume 7, 122). In an innovative opinion, he writes that the sages ruled that one should perform an action to remember the honor of Shabbat which comes right after a holiday, and this is what is done by one who makes an eiruv.

 

Rabbi Sternbuch writes that since making an eiruv is fulfillment of a mitzva a blessing should be recited when it is made. However, most of the rabbis do not agree, and they feel that one who does not intend to cook on the holiday should make an eiruv but without reciting a blessing. While the eiruv might be needed in order to light Shabbat candles, we noted above that according to the main ruling of the Shulchan Aruch the candles can be lit without an eiruv tavshilin, and therefore a blessing should not be recited if this is the only reason for making the eiruv.

 

Some people have commented that a person who wants to recite a blessing for an eiruv should plan on cooking something for Shabbat during the holiday. But in my humble opinion it is not reasonable to instruct people to do so. Many people prefer to spend Rosh Hashana in prayers and festive meals, and they therefore make an effort to prepare all of their food before the holiday. The idea that they should go into the kitchen and cook something on the second day just to be able to recite a blessing seems to me as too harsh a demand. Therefore one who does not plan on cooking the second day of the holiday should act as outlined above: Make an eiruv tavshilin in order to be able to light candles Friday night, but do not recite a blessing. Of course, one who does plan to cook on the holiday, including even warming up soup or another liquid for Shabbat, should make an eiruv and recite the blessing.

 

Note that one who makes an eiruv should only cook for Shabbat on the second day of the holiday, the day before Shabbat, and not on the first day.