ISO sponsor for a sefer

amother

Hotpink

Tue, May 05 2015, 11:29 pm

My dear, dear husband is writing a sefer. I really wish that we could give all of his hard work (and brilliance!) the respect it deserves by printing the sefer, but my husband learns in kollel and we can't really afford the costs to publish this. It needs to be printed, which is expensive, and he would also like to have an editor look it over.

We are looking for a sponsor who would be interested in dedicating this sefer. In return they will get as many copies as they would like, of course, as well as the merit of all of the torah learned through this sefer.

It would be a slim hebrew volume on a particular area in halacha. He writes for a highly knowledgeable audience. For us, the point is not to make money off it, but to spread his Torah insights. This would be a spiritual, rather than a financial, investment.

Please feel free to leave suggestions or ask questions on this thread, or email torahsefer613@gmail.com.

Frumdoc

Wed, May 06 2015, 3:59 am

When you say all the merit of the all the Torah learned through this sefer, what do you really mean?

Do you mean that you are giving away the merit of anyone who buys this and then learns from it, which you can't promise, after all, you can't give away someone else's Torah learning.

You can suggest that the sponsor will gain zechuyus of their own through the learning that occurs from publishing this sefer, but that is different from what is written.

Or that you are giving away all of dh's learning that went into this sefer, which must be extensive and a great deal of learning,does he want to give away all of his zechus from a years worth or more of full time learning?

Or have you not really thought it through?

Because promising to give away the zechus is actually an enormous gift, and I think it should be clarified whose and how much learning zechus you are selling to the person who sponsors this sefer.

And hatzlacha with the project.

amother

Hotpink

Wed, May 06 2015, 8:50 am

Thanks for your response.

I HAD meant the sponsor will gain zechuyus of their own through the learning that occurs from publishing this sefer, but that is different from what is written. I thought that was what I had written, I apologize if I didn't convey it clearly. Because after all, it won't be published without the sponsor, so by extension, the sponsor would get credit for the learning that the publishing of the sefer brings about, right?

Frumdoc

Wed, May 06 2015, 7:46 pm

I don't know. One can give away one's own merits, but no one else's, so you could say that the financer may gain some zechus for the publishing, but not to take any merit from those learning from it, as you the write can't donate the subsequent reader or learner's zechus to the financier.

I don't know if the zechus system as described in various txts is metaphorical or not, or if each zechus is finite or infinite. If finite, one could not assign random reward out without seeking the permission of the original meritorious person. So you can't give someone's reward for their mitzvah away, but if infinite, like a mother's love, then you could promise some form of reward for aiding the spreading of limud torah.

It is an interesting point.

Frumdoc

Wed, May 06 2015, 7:49 pm

BTW, just to be clear, this is not an attack, just randomly thinking about it after the way in which it was written triggered my brain off in this direction. I hope you are not offended by my online pondering ;-)