For the source text click/tap here: Beitzah 37
To download, click/tap here: PDF
Is one permitted to respond to synagogue appeals on Shabbat and Yom Tov? In the Mishna on yesterday's daf we learned that performing a mitzva like putting aside tithes or consecrating an object to the Temple would be forbidden on Shabbat and Yom Tov.
On our daf, the Gemara explains that the reason the Sages did not permit people to donate to the Temple on Shabbat and Yom Tov is because such contributions appear very similar to business transactions. One of the practical questions that this raises is how can synagogues make appeals – even for good causes – and accept pledges on Shabbat or on Yom Tov? Rav Nissim Gaon distinguishes between the case of donations to the Temple and the case of pledging money to charity or other causes.
We examine the cultural valence of schnodering $$ on shabbes...