Rosh Hashana is the beginning of the Torah “fiscal year,” as the beraisa tells us (Beitza 16a): “All of a person’s means are allocated between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The exception is Shabbos and Yom Tov expenses and expenses for children’s Torah study; for these, if he reduces, his allocation is reduced, and if he adds, his allocation is increased.” The Zohar (III 31b) states that the allocation is not finally sealed until Shemini Atzeres. Until then, there are still modifications, in the form of a “piska” or note.
At the same time, we continue throughout the year to daven for Hashem to help us with our livelihood! It seems as if our livelihood is characterized by Chazal sometimes as extremely rigid and determined and other times as rather open-ended.
Chazal’s description may seem at first glance arbitrary, but in fact, this process is little different from the way any large organization works. Large, bureaucratic organizations typically have detailed budgets that allocate the availability of funds in a rigid way among different departments and types of outlays. Typically, there is a draft budget (usually based on the previous year’s budget, with routine modifications). As the final budget is hammered out, different departments are busy trying to persuade senior management that their budget should be increased. A final draft is submitted to the board, which may make minor changes. Sometimes, clarifications are issued soon after. Even so, over the course of the year circumstances constantly change, and management can and does re-allocate resources. There are “budget variances” and even something called a “budget note” – a piska!
The exception made for Shabbos, Yom Tov, and Talmud Torah also has an analog in the world of bureaucracy. Organizations can have budget items that are not allocated by department but rather by purpose. (One example is a referral bonus, equally available to any employee who manages to recruit a customer or employee.) Funding for these purposes does not affect the department budget for other kinds of outlays. When the Meir family buys a refrigerator, it is considered an outlay of the Meir family – a management unit within Klal Yisrael. But when the Meir family pays yeshiva tuition, it is considered a priority, hence an outlay, of Klal Yisrael directly.
I elaborate on the annual budget idea in a column dedicated primarily to halacha because our halachic tradition takes this budget paradigm quite seriously. The adjacent passage in Beitza (15b) encourages borrowing to pay for Shabbos and Yom Tov expenses; the Tur (OC 242) connects these passages and explains that even though a person is generally discouraged from borrowing to meet expenses, these expenses are an exception precisely because of their unique place in Klal Yisrael’s budget. This principle is the basis of the Shulchan Aruch’s ruling (OC 529) that a person should not scrimp on Yom Tov expenses (Mishna Berurah).
In many cases, the application of this principle encompasses both halacha and mussar – thoughtful conduct. The Chafetz Chaim (Biur Halacha 529:1) infers, as mentioned, that the budget idea implies that for ordinary expenses, a person should be frugal. His means are limited. Hence, he urges husbands to resist family demand for luxuries. (It goes without saying that it is often the wife who has to be assertive.)
However, the great mussar teacher and exemplar Rav Mordechai Schwab (Maamar Mordechai 40) cites another saying in the name of the Chafetz Chaim: Sometimes expenses are not what they seem. If your wife wants something for the house that can’t be justified based on the household budget, it may still be appropriate to charge the item to a separate budget – the shalom bayis budget! Marital harmony is a distinct and very important household need. As such, it justifies its own distinct budget category. (Source: Chashukei Chemed on Beitza 16a). This, too, has its analog in organizations, which often have a distinct budget for “staff retention.” Workers need salary and benefits, but sometimes you have to do something just to make them happy.
This insight reminds me of a time I was visiting Rav Yisroel Gantz, the Rav of Mattersdorf, with a halachic query. During our discussion, someone phoned Rabbi Gantz with the following shaila: His wife wants to start swimming regularly, something that will inevitably come at the expense of other uses of the couple’s income. The caller wanted to know if he had to agree. Clearly, the husband was not oblivious to his wife’s needs; indeed, the whole basis of the call was that he recognized that providing for his wife’s recreation might even be a strict halachic obligation.
Rav Gantz replied, “I’m not sure if you are obligated to agree, but there is something called being a ben adam.” In Jewish English: a mensch.
Our Jewish legal tradition – halacha – encourages us to frame our daily experience in terms of defined categories. Every act is categorized as obligatory, permissible, or forbidden; our everyday home economics is framed as an annual budget with defined categories of expense.
But our Jewish ethical tradition – mussar – challenges us to use a bit of creativity in applying these categories in practice. In our example, insight into human nature may awaken us to the need for a distinct budget for harmony in the home.
