Question:
Why does a Rabbi guide people free of charge? A Rabbi believes to do good in order to receive good from the – Almighty. Additionally, why free of cost? A doctor, saves lives. An attorney, does justice. A police, protects. The military, supervises over there land. Ambulance, comes to the rescue, so on and so forth. All these headlines take part in doing good. The world is filled with people doing greatness. In contrast, they procure some money in return. Doesn’t a Rabbi try to find time to answer properly, and the thought process can get overwhelming. The pressure to answer multiple amount of people and prior to all this – A lot of energy gets spent. If a Rabbi is doing a JOB, why doesn’t he request to get paid (for every person) for doing it. If a person wants to donate… wonderful. But, you’re not being forced into the concept of payments. I’m just in wonder. Why? Rabbis to good for good, without the price. Why others do good for good, but still conclude with money. If a Rabbi is doing a job, why is he waiting for g-d to pay him… in different ways? I’m aware that g-d can provide more than dallor bills can. Tho, if the whole entire world awaits for Hashems assistance in such a direction, then wouldn’t everyone be in poverty? What’s the difference btw. a rabbis assistance V.S. all different variety of professions? How is a simple Rabbi so DOMINANT (without the desire of money) while other BIG professions charge – by being so recessive?
Answer:
Thank you for your kind and uplifting words. What you are writing is true, but not 100%. When it comes to teaching torah there is an idea, that the same way Moshe Rabbeinu taught torah to the Jews for free, so too we should not charge. However, a Rabbi or a teacher is allowed to charge a nominal amount, because by spending time teaching he is forfeiting getting another job, therefore Rabbis are allowed to charge, and many Rabbis do get a salary from the congregation etc., but they are not making the amount that could make if they would become lawyers or doctors.
On the other hand though, the Rabbis see their work as H-shem’s work, and H-shem has plenty of ways to send us our needs. Additionally, the gemora (Tractate Kedushin 39b) says that there is no reward for mitzvot in this world. The Chofetz Chaim explains, that this is because this world does not contain the capability to provide a just reward for mitzvos that are done. He explains this with a parable of a poor orphan, whose father only left him with two tremendously sized diamonds. One day he was in the grocery store and he saw these really large sized gumballs on the counter. All of his friends were buying them, and he also wanted one. He didn’t have money, so he went home and he brought the store owner his diamond, and asked him if he could change his “rock” for some gumballs. The storeowner told him, “absolutely not”, and he explained himself. He said that right now, he was still young, and he couldn’t appreciate the value of this “rock”, but when he gets older, he will. If he would sell him even a thousand gum balls for the rock, later on in life he would come back and sue him for stealing his diamond from him for a couple of lousy gumballs. It is the same with us says the Chofetz Chaim. Our mitzvos are worth much more than anything that this world can provide. Therefore H-shem specifically doesn’t give us the reward for out mitzvos in this world, in order not to shortchange us.
Getting back to our topic. Yes it is true that many Rabbis do not earn the same amount as they would if they would become a lawyer or a doctor, but that is because they want their main “pay” to be saved up in H-shem’s bank.
Having said that, in truth the Rabbis do a lot of work for the public, but on the other hand they are getting some pay, however we don’t demand money, and provide the answers to the public’s questions as a free service, but understandably, this site does cost a lot of money and therefore in a way we are relying on the public’s donations.
Best Wishes
