Q. A number of years ago I taught an older person, a Ba’al Teshuvah whose family wasn’t frum. After he was niftar, by the levaya I came over to his sons and told them that it is important that Kaddish be said for their father and that it is better if they have a hand in it — by donating a symbolic amount of money to hire someone to do it. They gave me a couple of dollars for the cause. After that I came over to a group of yungerlite and told them that Kaddish needs to be said for the niftar. One of them responded: ‘’ Yes, yes, I'm saying Kaddish for him!’’ I got flustered and forgot to give him the money. After the 11 months, I remembered about my mistake. I think I did not tell that yungerman anything about the money. To find the sons may be not easy. What should I do about the money?
A. To correctly answer this question, a number of necessary variable facts are missing. Some of them are;
1) Was that money given to you as your personal compensation for finding the kaddish reciter, or as a payment for him?
2) Did the "yungerlite" you approached, mean that he was already saying kaddish for the niftar before you asked him?
3) Do you know who that "yungerlite" is and can you reach him?
Since there may be additional questions, and as with other similar questions concerning monetary issues, Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is that a local competent Rov, that is more familiar with the case should be consulted.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
Important Numbers
