A most interesting psak Halacha was released by Israel’s Keter Institute regarding buying tefilin from a merchant who evades paying income tax. The Halachic ruling is contained in a new sefer published by the institute called בין אדם ושלטון””.
The psak in question addresses the question if one is permitted to buy items from a person who works ‘off the books’, a merchant that does not pay value added tax and/or income tax to national authorities. Regarding value added tax, which today stands at 18%, the rabbis feel that if a buyer and merchant collaborate on a lower price on an item, without a sales receipt to save the VAT, then the buyer is possibly required to pay the VAT for he was a willing participant in defrauding the VAT Authority.
On the other hand, they feel the buyer is not responsible for the deal, which may involve an agent who is an “ עוסק פטור”, that is to say he is classified as one who earns too little to require him to pay VAT. (That figure today stands at about 120,000 shekels annually. Above that amount, a merchant must file VAT, which means he must collect it from buyers and then forward it to the VAT Authority).
What about tefilin or other tashmishei kedusha?
The discussion then shifts to tefilin and mezuzos, posing questions regarding sofrim who evade taxes;
1. Is such a person pasul l’chatchila or is it just a question of the sofer’s ne’emonus?
2. Would the tefilin be pasul on the basis of a מצווה הבא בעבירה?
3. Is one permitted to make a bracha on such tefilin if they are not mamosh pasul?
The researchers of Keter rule that a sofer who evades taxes or steals from others in different ways is not disqualified from writing STaM. In addition, his ne’emonus is not compromised.
Regarding the question of a buyer expressing a willingness to make the purchase ‘off the books’ to save paying taxes and a higher price, the actual buyer may not make a bracha on such tefilin for he is an active and willing participant in theft.
Therefore, he is prohibited from buying them off the books for by doing so, he places the tefilin in a category that he cannot make a bracha on them. However, b’dieved, one can fulfill the mitzvah with the tefilin as they are not Halachically pasul due to מצווה הבא בעבירה.
In case of doubt, that is to say the buyer is not aware if the sofer evaded taxes, then he may make a bracha on the tefilin l‘chatchila.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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23 Responses
in eretz yisroel, דינא דמלכותא דינא doesn’t apply, according to the Ran in Nedorim 26a
Based on the picture of the Israeli parliament (you know, the one debating whether to close down yeshivos and draft the talmidim), I suspect their bias may be called into question. If in fact they receive money, directly or indirectly from the state, they are “nogaiah be-devar” a bit (conflict of interest).
I suspect that if one asked the Beis Din of the Eidah hareidis (which avoids the taint of being funded by the Israeli government), the answer might be a different. So since this is an article written by YWN, rather than a paid advertisement, the YWN reporter should some independent rabbanim if they would agree.
Uh oh. Now Satmar will begin requiring that every set of tefilin come with a certification that no taxes have ever been paid for the tefilin or for any of its components.
Their home page: http://www.keter.org.il/
Note the picture mid-way on the home page of a character in a kova temble and the kenesset.
He can’t make a bracha on them even though they’re not posul?
This does not apply in EY most recently the Chazon Ish held that way
The famous Ran in Nedarim 28a says that dina dmalchusa dina is a “contractual” relationship; you live in country, so agree to live by its laws. The Ran in Nedarim writes that the basis for dina dmalchusa dina stems from the fact that the Melech can expel his people from his land. It’s basically a tax of living in the country. The Ran explains that the exception to the rule of DDD is Eretz Yisroel, which the Ran categorically states that Dina Dmalchusa Dina is inapplicable in Eretz Yisroel, since the Torah declares Eretz Yisroel belongs to Hashem (Vayikra 25:23). Since Hashem is the true property owner, and He has encouraged all of Klal Yisroel to live in Eretz Yisroel and the Ran says as every Yid has a G-d given right to live there, no government in control there ever has the right to charge taxes (and Dina D’malchus does not apply to the rulers in Eretz Yisroel) because they are not the rightful owner of the land. Hashem, as owner, has granted permission for all of Bnei Yisroel to live in His country (what is called the “paltin shel melech” – “the palace of the king”.) Thus, the Ran writes in his famous shitah, that since all Jews are entitled to live in Israel, there is no dina dmalchusa there. Most Poskim (starting with the Ran and Tosfos) are in agreement that dina d’malchusa dina doesn’t apply in Eretz Yisroel.
Nice to see all of you are greater talmidei chachamim and poskim than R. Zalman Nechemia Goldberg who reviews and approves of all of the psakim of Keter. (Check the website)
Could there perhaps be any bias on the part of those who want to avoid paying taxes??
המחקרים עוברים ביקורת על ידי ראשי המכון, ומובאים לעיונו של נשיא מכון כת”ר, הרה”ג זלמן נחמיה גולדברג שליט”א, אשר מגבה ומעניק להם תוקף הלכתי.
Thanks for that nice synopsis, Chuck.
#7- Yishar Koach. There are, however, many other shitot in the rishonim. Halacha lemaaseh, harav Ovadia zt”l paskened that in the State of Israel Dina DeMalchuta Dina. See, שו”ת יחוה דעת ה ס”ד
#8- Yishar Koach.
I don’t think we paskin like that Ran. I don’t think it’s quoted in the Shulchan Aruch. I think we paskin that dina demalchusa dina is what we owe the government for providing us governmental services, like security and infrastructure, which would apply equally to all governments including Eretz Yisroel.
I wonder if there is a difference between a government that allows you to live and all it provides is the right to live there. So in eretz yisrael such a government has no standing. But in eretz yisrael where there is a government that provides healthcare, water, housing and security, food and infrastructure and this is all paid for by distributing the costs to the citizens, this Ran may not be applicable.
After all, the government needs to build many new prisons for all the hareidi yeshiva students. Even if Dina Malchusa Dina applied in Israel, under the new regime it wouldn’t since Eretz Yisrael now has a government that openly favors persecution of Jews. Given that at no time during the period that the Hazan Ish lived in Israel was there ever such a government, I don’t see how his comments are relevant. Could you base on psak halacha on the German government of 1938, on a psak halach on the German government of 1913?
I’m going to be honest, I read this article in terror. Two years ago I bought a Megillas Esther and new tefillin from a reputable store in Brooklyn. After reading the article, I remember something about the store owner saying that if I pay cash, I won’t have to pay sales tax. I remember paying with a mix of cash and credit. I don’t remember whether or not I paid tax on the Megillah. I think that I told the store owner that I was going to donate the Megillah to my shul, which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and they don’t pay sales tax. Maybe that’s how we got around it. I don’t remember. But I’m going to pull out the receipt and ask my Rav what to do.
Sales tax is paid by the buyer! It’s added on to the cost of the goods and then turned over to the state. So in reality, the seller doesn’t lose anything by charging tax, he’s just doing the buyer a favor. But, the seller is merely the temporary custodian of the tax proceeds. If the seller “discounts” the tax off the sales price, then the seller is liable for the theft because he did not turn over the 18% from the sale. If the buyer makes such an agreement, he has assisted in the theft.
If you want your garbage collected, your street lights working, your land protected by an army and police, your roads paved, your state rabbis paid, etc., etc. of a 21st century civilized society, then you pay your taxes. To not pay is theft of services. Plain and simple. Anyone dealing underhandedly to avoid their obligations has no yiras Shamayim. If someone will cut corners and avoid taxes, how can I, as a non-expert, rely on them to write valid tefillin or mezuzos and NOT cut corners? Even if they’re physically valid, these people have no problem with stealing from the state. They don’t have the proper yiras shamayim to be a sofer.
So if DDD does not apply in EY, what then will happen when everyone decides they wont pay taxes, will drive 180km/hr and will throw their garbage into the middle of the street etc. Its called lawlessness and I highly doubt that this is where we want to go.
If your in israel and your a frum guy your for sure don’t need to pay any tax or vat the chardi Pay all taxes but don’t get it back at all from the government in the form of services that every other Israeli who is not frum get.
#17- Given the low average income of charedim in Israel, the many tax exemptions and reductions that they receive and their large number of children, I would wager that just the average value of the medical services that the average charedi family receives is comparable to the sum total of all the taxes that same average charedi family pays to the government. Add in education and your average charedi family is already deeply indebted to the state. And, last I heard, charedim use many other public services: they use sidewalks, streets, highways and other public infrastructure, public transportation, unemployment benefits, and the list goes on and on. And let’s not even start on the costs of national defense. If you are an average charedi in Israel your tax money does not begin to cover the costs of the services that you and your family receive from the government. Non-charedi taxpayers are subsidizing you seven ways from Sunday.
15, IIRC there is no sales tax in NY on religious items. You have to pay for the cases, etc. but not on the actual klaf.
Mods, is this too controversial to post or will you let it through?
#11- What date did Ovadia zt”l pasken the Dina Malchusa Dina applied to Eretz Yisrael. Government change. If someone told you to wear a heavy coat and waterproof shoes today, would you still follow that advice on a bright sunny day in July? If someone said the German government was trustworthy and not hostile to Jews in 1913, would you still follow that in 1938?
#20- Harav Ovadia zt”l defined himself in several public interviews as a Zionist and had Sha”s join the World Zionist Organization (the organization founded by Theodor Herzl), he served as Israel’s Chief Rabbi, had sons and grandsons who served in the IDF, paskened that the wars of Israel are milchemot mitzva and that the laws of the State of Israel are binding. No wonder then that you felt the need to drop the title of ‘harav’ before his name. Your attempt to drag him posthumously into the muck of your insane brand of sinat yisrael is a defilement of his memory.
Yasher Koach akuperma for so eloquently expanding upon and explaining the thoughts of the Daas Torah of the Gedolei Yisroel SHLIT”A.
Yagel Libi:
It was probably an oversight. Why would he write “Zt”L”, which stands for Zecher Tzadik LiVracha and purposely omit “Rav”?
Incidentally, he was not a Zionist; he did want some Jews to live in E”Y and also that Jews in E”Y should live by the Torah. That’s not Zionist.