Do you pay your rav/dayan/posek?

amother

Coffee

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 8:05 pm

I was shocked to read in another thread, a poster saying she asks her rav all her questions, yet she doesn't pay him.

It's beyond me that someone would take up a rav's valuable time and skill and not pay him.

It had me wondering: if you were paying him per hour or per question, would you ask less questions?

I'm honestly still in shock. Why is a rav not being paid to offer you the service you find so important and meaningful? You pay the mikvah, the cleaning angel, the plumber, consultant, etc.

shoshanim999

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 8:10 pm

My posek is the rav of my shul. We pay membership, pay for the shul dinner, and are involved in some of the small campaigns during the year. The rav gets a salary. Where do you think that money comes from?

thunderstorm

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 8:10 pm

My DH tried paying our Rav a few times and he refused to accept the money. So since then my DH stopped trying. He never turned me away once with my questions, whether it's Halacha, hashkafa or eitzah.
His wife has a business and we use her services so she makes commission off of us, but we would gladly pay if he would accept .

amother

Burlywood

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 8:16 pm

We pay the shul membership which by us is paying for seats and when rov sells chometz we leave a check. We are very low income yeshivish. I believe normal in our circles.

amother

Fuchsia

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 8:20 pm

Well, we pay shul dues which contributes to his salary. And this is part of the job description, offering spiritual guidance and halachik guidance to the community. And sure, I can look up simple things- I don't need to call the Rav if I accidentally eat my yogurt with a fleishig spoon because it's pretty straightforward. But as I don't have the expertise that comes from.the in depth study required for smicha, if it's not straightforward, of course I ask the Rav. Do you never go to the doctor? After all, anyone with an internet connection can just look it up on WebMD! Of course you don't need to call the doctor over every sniffle, but if you have reason to believe it's more complicated than that, then you go to the one who graduated from medical school rather than relying on you Google University knowledge.

Cmon be nice

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 8:25 pm

I think in general you dont pay the RV as his job is to answer shailos, but to give him money on purim, maybe chanukah, and when selling chometz.

Maya

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 8:29 pm

We give our dayan several hundred dollars before Pesach.

We pay shul dues, but I believe the Rav of our shul does not draw a salary for his services.

mha3484

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 8:42 pm

My rav is employed by a community organization and has open hours that you can call and ask shaalos. 99.9% of the time I do that. They pay his salary.

amother

Khaki

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 8:46 pm

We pay shul membership. Rabanim often intentionally don’t take money for questions. This could lead to them appearing unscrupulous , and a good Rav takes “veheyisem nekiim” very seriously. They also don’t want those who who can’t afford it, to not ask questions. It’s inportant for a Rav to be accessible to EVERYONE. A Rav is a community service job, sometimes working like a volunteer. Yes, they are often underpaid and people often don’t appreciate the dedication and commitment it is.

amother

Oak

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 8:48 pm

My thought is honestly that a posek/Dayan would be horrified to think that people would ask less shailos because of money. Someone who devotes himself to the klal like that does it for love of Torah and Halacha and their community. I can’t imagine that my Rav would take money to answer shailos.

little neshamala

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 9:20 pm

I believe I am the poster from the other thread that the OP is referring too.
Sorry to have shocked you.
Now im a bit embarrassed but..look we pay a lot in shul membership, a big portion of which goes to the Rav's salary.
He is our Rebi. Its weird to think of paying him to have a kesher with us, and like I said, the shul (us-members) pays his salary

amother

Babypink

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 9:22 pm

I think it's appropriate to give the Rav money if you can afford it, I'm embarrassed to say we don't

. Maybe one day...

cnc

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 9:39 pm

We give our Rav money on Purim along with Mishloach Manos. He is always available for us for shailos. He is not the Rav of a shul.

pause

Thu, Feb 22 2018, 10:38 pm

cnc wrote:

We give our Rav money on Purim along with Mishloach Manos. He is always available for us for shailos. He is not the Rav of a shul.

Same. We stick an envelope into the mishloach manos. I view it as simple hakaras hatov.

amother

Red

Fri, Feb 23 2018, 12:44 am

I think many rabbis don’t offically get paid by people who ask them shailas. It’s more like you pay them when they sell your chametz, you drop a check in mishloach manos, you give them generous wedding presents (meaning nice size checks) etc
We are a young couple struggling to make it by so we don’t pay anything. I hope to be able to one day

SuperWify

Fri, Feb 23 2018, 7:22 am

amother wrote:

So practically, how does it work?

How much does he charge per shaila, per meeting?

So curious to know!