Mr. Gross was honored with an aliyah in shul on Shabbos morning. When the gabbai recited the Mi Sheberach, Mr. Gross pledged $50 to the shul.
On Sunday morning, after Mr. Gross finished davening Shacharis, he took a crisp $50 bill and slipped it into the metal safe box designated for donations and pledges. He returned home, satisfied that he had fulfilled his obligation.
The following morning, though, an email from the shul office caught his attention:
Important notice: The shul donation safe box was broken into overnight, and the funds inside were stolen. Unfortunately, the donations were not recovered. Members who placed checks or cash inside the box yesterday are asked to please resubmit their contributions.
Mr. Gross read the message slowly. His heart sank – partly over the theft, but more so over the question that immediately arose. “Am I really expected to pay again?” he wondered. “I already put the money in!”
Later that day, he raised the issue with his chavrusa. “I pledged $50 on Shabbos and put cash in the shul’s safe box on Sunday,” Mr. Gross explained. “If the box was broken into afterward, am I still responsible?”
His chavrusa considered this carefully. “A pledge to tzedakah is binding,” he said. “The question is whether placing money in the shul’s box is considered delivery to the shul – or if it’s still your responsibility until the shul’s treasurer actually receives it.”
“But the box belongs to the shul,” Mr. Gross countered. “It’s meant for donations.”
“True,” replied his chavrusa, “but the money never reached the hands of the treasurer.”
Unsure how to proceed, Mr. Gross called Rabbi Dayan and asked:
“Am I still responsible for my pledge?”
“The Gemara (Chullin 139a) teaches that a person who accepts upon himself a neder (pledge) to the Temple treasury is responsible until it reaches the hands of the gizbar (treasurer),” replied Rabbi Dayan.
“Similarly, a person who pledges to give a certain amount to tzedakah is responsible until he hands the money to the needy person or gabbai tzedakah. However, if he merely sets the money aside and it gets stolen, he remains responsible (Tzedakah U’mishpat 8:7[16]).
Nonetheless, when a person places money in a box belonging to someone, the box can acquire on behalf of its owner as a form of kinyan chatzer, which is rooted in the concept of shlichus (agency) or yad (C.M. 200:3).
Based on this, the poskim discuss whether a person who placed money in a pushke of Reb Meir Ba’al Haness for the poor in Eretz Yisrael may afterward divert the money to other charity purposes or whether it was already acquired by them (see Tzedakah U’mishpat 8:9[25]).
That discussion would presumably be relevant to our case as well, where you placed your $50 pledge in the shul safe box. Did the shul already acquire it?
According to many poskim, the box acquires the money on behalf of the shul, so that you are henceforth relieved of your responsibility for your pledge, even if the money was subsequently stolen.
The Avnei Nezer (Y.D. #293), though, maintains that the person is not relieved of his responsibility in this situation, because when the money is stolen, it is to the detriment of the poor, and thus agency would not apply here. He agrees, though, that if the person placed money in the box without making any pledge beforehand, he is not responsible, as he accepted no commitment beyond putting the money inside.
Furthermore, some maintain that a shul, as opposed to a collection for needy people, is like hekdesh, which – according to some Rishonim – does not acquire through chatzer, but others differentiate between shuls nowadays and hekdesh (see Magen Avraham 154:23; Ketzos and Nesivos 200:1).
Regardless, a person who left a check in the box would be responsible to replace the check, because a check is just a written instruction to pay to the bearer, but until actuated, the person does not fulfill his pledge.
“Thus,” concluded Rabbi Dayan, “according to many authorities, you are relieved of your pledge, but some are stringent.”
Verdict: According to many authorities, a person who pledged to tzedakah and places cash in that tzedakah’s collection box fulfills his pledge and is no longer responsible, even if the money is later stolen, because the tzedakah acquired the money through kinyan chatzer. Some authorities are stringent, however.