Which Mitzvot Take Precedence?: Difference between revisions
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# If a person has an opportunity to either fulfill a mitzvah in the most ideal fashion himself or help another person fulfill the mitzvah on a basic level but sacrifice his ideal mitzvah and only fulfill a basic mitzvah, it is preferable to do the basic mitzvah and enable another Jew's mitzvah.<ref>Magen Avraham 658:12 writes a case in which a person has a personal etrog that he could use for the mitzvah and another town doesn't have any etrog. If he could still borrow an etrog for someone in his town and fulfill his basic mitzvah he should donate his etrog to the other town. The [https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=628&pgnum=166 Bet Yakov 114] posits that this is only true if his donation would enable many more Jews to fulfill a mitzvah, but if it is a choice between keeping his etrog or donating it to an individual who otherwise couldn't fulfill the mitzvah at all and him just borrowing, it is better to keep his own etrog. His logic is based on the answer of Tosfot Shabbat 4a that one can do a minor sin to help out a multitude of Jews. The Eliya Rabba 658:12 disagrees and thinks that it is always best to donate the etrog to enable another Jew's mitzvah even if it is an individual Jew as long as he could still borrow an etrog. He adds that this is only true if that individual wasn't negligent. Furthermore, regarding chanuka candles, the Magen Avraham 671:1 comments that it is better to give up some of one's oil for another Jew to fulfill the basic mitzvah even if that means he too will fulfill the basic mitzvah as opposed to him selfishly doing the enhanced mitzvah himself. Chemed Moshe 671:2 disagrees with the Magen Avraham's application in Chanuka because he holds it is in fact mandatory to light according to the number of the night.</ref> | # If a person has an opportunity to either fulfill a mitzvah in the most ideal fashion himself or help another person fulfill the mitzvah on a basic level but sacrifice his ideal mitzvah and only fulfill a basic mitzvah, it is preferable to do the basic mitzvah and enable another Jew's mitzvah.<ref>Magen Avraham 658:12 writes a case in which a person has a personal etrog that he could use for the mitzvah and another town doesn't have any etrog. If he could still borrow an etrog for someone in his town and fulfill his basic mitzvah he should donate his etrog to the other town. The [https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=628&pgnum=166 Bet Yakov 114] posits that this is only true if his donation would enable many more Jews to fulfill a mitzvah, but if it is a choice between keeping his etrog or donating it to an individual who otherwise couldn't fulfill the mitzvah at all and him just borrowing, it is better to keep his own etrog. His logic is based on the answer of Tosfot Shabbat 4a that one can do a minor sin to help out a multitude of Jews. The Eliya Rabba 658:12 disagrees and thinks that it is always best to donate the etrog to enable another Jew's mitzvah even if it is an individual Jew as long as he could still borrow an etrog. He adds that this is only true if that individual wasn't negligent. Furthermore, regarding chanuka candles, the Magen Avraham 671:1 comments that it is better to give up some of one's oil for another Jew to fulfill the basic mitzvah even if that means he too will fulfill the basic mitzvah as opposed to him selfishly doing the enhanced mitzvah himself. Chemed Moshe 671:2 disagrees with the Magen Avraham's application in Chanuka because he holds it is in fact mandatory to light according to the number of the night.</ref> | ||
# A person should not be a hog of mitzvot and claim them all for oneself if it is beyond what is normal for one person to do.<ref>Sukkah 52b tells about the son of Marta Bat Baytus, a very strong man, who wanted to take an extra large portion of a korban to the mizbe'ach and the rabbis did not let him because he should have shared it with others. Gevurat Ari Yoma 26b s.v. aval, Sfat Emet Sukkah 52b, and Meromei Sadeh Sukkah 52b all agree to this point that it is wrong to take more than a normal share of mitzvot. See Sfat Emet who says that the rabbis broke up the mitzvah of bringing the korban to as many parts as possible in order to facilitate as many people taking part in the mitzvah. However, at some point where multiple kohanim would carry a small piece of the korban that wouldn't be considered a mitzvah at all, they had one kohen do that job. Another aspect can be gleaned from Magen Avraham 147:11 who says that if one is unable to do the mitzvah of hagbah and gelila oneself one should honor someone else with the gelila and he should do the hagbah. This implies that it were to be possible to do it oneself one should do so in order not to give up a partial mitzvah that could easily be done by oneself.</ref> | # A person should not be a hog of mitzvot and claim them all for oneself if it is beyond what is normal for one person to do.<ref>Sukkah 52b tells about the son of Marta Bat Baytus, a very strong man, who wanted to take an extra large portion of a korban to the mizbe'ach and the rabbis did not let him because he should have shared it with others. Gevurat Ari Yoma 26b s.v. aval, Sfat Emet Sukkah 52b, and Meromei Sadeh Sukkah 52b all agree to this point that it is wrong to take more than a normal share of mitzvot. See Sfat Emet who says that the rabbis broke up the mitzvah of bringing the korban to as many parts as possible in order to facilitate as many people taking part in the mitzvah. However, at some point where multiple kohanim would carry a small piece of the korban that wouldn't be considered a mitzvah at all, they had one kohen do that job. Another aspect can be gleaned from Magen Avraham 147:11 who says that if one is unable to do the mitzvah of hagbah and gelila oneself one should honor someone else with the gelila and he should do the hagbah. This implies that it were to be possible to do it oneself one should do so in order not to give up a partial mitzvah that could easily be done by oneself.</ref> | ||
#If a person could either fulfill a rabbinic mitzvah that he already fulfilled previously and someone else who hasn't had an opportunity to fulfill it at all some poskim hold that he should sacrifice his mitzvah for that other person since enabling his mitzvah is biblical chesed and that trumps the rabbinic mitzvah.<ref>Michtam Ldovid OC 6</ref> | #If a person could either fulfill a rabbinic mitzvah that he already fulfilled previously and someone else who hasn't had an opportunity to fulfill it at all some poskim hold that he should sacrifice his mitzvah for that other person since enabling his mitzvah is biblical chesed and that trumps the rabbinic mitzvah.<ref>Michtam Ldovid OC 6, Chazon Ovadia v. 2 p. 819</ref> | ||
==Sources== | ==Sources== | ||
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[[Category:Meta Concepts of Halacha]] | [[Category:Meta Concepts of Halacha]] | ||
