Tuesday, January 30, 2007

taanis 24 take care of your own 1st?

i know i am a little ahead, but the gemara has a story regarding elaza who seemingly gave away his own daughter wedding money to 2 orphans marrying each other. the maharsha asks how was he allowed to do this as the din is that you take care of your own 1st.
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i was thinking perhaps rashi is answering this by explaining the gemara that 2 orphans were marrying each other. maybe, the rule of taking care of your own 1st only applies when the needs are on the same plain more or less, but when the other need that is farther is more dire then it takes precedence. perhaps here the fact that there were no parents to help out and as we see in the beginning of ksubos that parents helping in the meal preparations are the norm then there was an added dimension to the needs of the orphans.
what is the din when 2 yeshivos are collecting, 1 local yeshiva for building a gym for american boys who need this type of thing and 1 is from erets yisroel and they are collecting for basic needs, which takes precedence?
(the maharsha answers more simply but acknowledges that it is dochak)

1 comment:

Avi Lebowitz said...

The answer is that you give both. but if you can only give one - the chasam sofer (cited in pischei teshuva 151:4) says that the dinei kedima is only if all else is equal, but if the needs by one are greater than the other, the greater need takes precedence. also, e.y. comes before chul (but that is only for chul that is not your own city). another consideration is that talmidei chachamim come before am ha'aretz, so you may want to investigate the product of the yeshiva. although an am ha'aretz in your own city comes before a talmid chacham somewhere else (pischei teshuva 3), that is for parnasa, but when it comes to supporting a yeshiva i think the product produced by the yeshiva is a more important consideration.