Midway Jewish Center
56 Years Young: 1953-2009 !
THE CYBERSHUL

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This Week’s Torah Reading

Naso

In parashat naSO, we learn of some duties for which the Levites were responsible, most of which had to do with maSA or porterage, but which might more commonly be expressed as schlepping. Since they were schlepping parts of the mishKAN, the tabernacle, the schlepping was an honor. The Israelite camp had to remain holy so impure people would leave the camp for the duration of their impurity. Those who had wronged another had to make restitution, even if the wronged person had died and there was no remaining kin. Restitution amounted to whatever was taken plus 20% more and that handed over to the priest, that is, to God. The case of a soTAH or suspected adulteress is discussed. Should a man suspect his wife of adultery, he brought her to the koHEN or priest. The koHEN mixed sacred water and some tabernacle earth, dissolved a curse of sterility into the murky concoction, and made the woman drink it. The mei meraRIM or Ordeal of the Bitter Waters, was meant to expose a guilty woman by rendering her sterile. Next we learn of the naZIR or Nazirite, a man or woman who took on special restrictions in order to live a spiritual life. The Nazirites could not drink liquor or wine; eat any grape products; cut their hair; or be near a dead body, even a dead parent. At the end of the Nazirite term, sacrifices were made and the Nazirites’ hair was cut off and burned. God tells Moses how Aaron is to bless the people and the three-fold priestly benediction is thus recorded. Finally, the gifts brought by each of the twelve tribes at the time of the mishKAN dedication are recorded. Each tribe gave the identical gift, yet the Torah records each one separately.

Shabbat Thought

The secret of happiness is to count up your blessings while others are adding up their troubles.

~~ Jill Kraverts  ~~

Web Of The Week

http://www.tlv100.co.il/EN/News/Pages/Schwarzenegger.aspx

Governor Schwarzenegger wishes Tel Aviv a very Happy 100th Birthday from the great sate of Caleefornia

Aural Torah

Sotah and Saudi Arabia

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A TAXING QUESTION

Dear CyberRav,

My daughter’s college decided on a raffle to help raise badly needed revenues for the school during this ugly recession. My daughter had to sell at least two tickets, in accordance with school policy, so who buys them? You guessed it—us, her parents! While at the drawing, I said a little prayer to HaShem: God—you know there are a lot of wealthy people in this room right now and although I’m sure they could use the money, I think our family could use it more. So if we win, I’ll donate 10% to tzedakah. But then, thinking to myself that the offer wasn’t sufficiently generous, I upped the tzedakah contribution to 20%. That was it—a simple, to the point, boldly materialistic prayer. And then guess what happened—we won! I’ve never had a prayer answered so quickly, at least in a positive vein. We won a good amount of cash. So here’s my question and I hope you don’t think it silly. Our winnings are subject to withholding tax. I promised 20% to tzedakah—is that on the gross or the net? 

Your question isn’t silly at all but first, a question: is “Pot” short for “Potasnick”? Just kidding.

Your question would be a whole lot simpler if no taxes were involved here because then your gross would be your net. But in this case, the two are not identical.

There are probably two ways of looking at this situation. You did take a vow on winnings of x dollars, and you won those x dollars. You didn’t, for example, vow—God, if I win, I will pay 20% in tzedakah on my after tax winnings minus any reasonable accounting fees incurred. Your vow was sort of straightforward in that regard.

On the other hand, and this is the other way of looking at it, when people make such vows, unless they are CPAs, they probably don’t take into consideration any of the tax implications of such a windfall. The tax implications are there as we are all subject to these and similar rules, but we just don’t generally speak that way. I’m going to side with a 20% figure on after tax winnings. First , I believe it is incredibly generous to have made this offer to begin with, whether one pays 20% on the full winnings or after-tax winnings. And secondly, we all know that it’s not what you win, but it’s what you get to keep that is of principal importance here. I feel certain that a 20% gift on your after-tax winnings will more than sufficiently fulfill that vow.

By the way, with that kind of quick and positive return on prayer uttered—you might want to consider the rabbinate.

Rabbi Rafi Rank
CyberRav

Shabbat Shalom Everyone!!

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