Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz

So after I mentioned this, I got feedback from a world-renowned sofer, Rav Uve Mendelowitz, a shlita, who said that he thought that when you win a Sefer Torah in a raffle, it's similar to inheriting a Sefer Torah, which is mefurish that you're not Yotze.

I don't know, I thought it was more similar to commissioning a Sefer Torah.

So he said, why do you think it's more similar to commissioning a Sefer Torah?

Because you're buying a ticket, and buying a ticket is like buying the Torah.

So he argued the fact that you bought a ticket is not the same as buying a Sefer Torah.

So I would just argue that everybody's buying a ticket.

So everyone's buying a ticket with the understanding that the winner is the ultimate buyer.

So let's say, you know, I can't afford, let's say a Sefer Torah costs $100,000.

and I can't afford all $100,000.

So I put together a group of wealthy relatives, and they all agree that they all have Sefer Torah already.

So they all agree that this will be my Sefer Torah, and they want to do this for me.

They want to do this for me, that I should be able to have a Sefer Torah.

So I contribute $10,000, and a bunch of other people contribute $10,000 also, and I'm the one that goes home with the Sefer Torah.

So I would think that you are Yotze in such a case.

meaning that's like buying a Sefer Torah.

I think that's the understanding of a raffle, that you know somebody's going to go home with it, and therefore you're all agreeing that we're all paying for it, and somebody's going to go home with it.

My other argument was that the difference between yarshening a Sefer Torah where you're not Yotze, versus winning a Sefer Torah in a raffle, is that that Sefer Torah that you yarshened was somebody else's mitzvah of Ksiva Sefer Torah, meaning that Sefer Torah was written by your father before he died, for his mitzvah of Ksiva Sefer Torah.

So the whole idea that if you're Yorish, you need to write your own is because you need to do your mitzvah of Ksiva Sefer Torah.

But if a Sefer Torah is written for whoever wins the raffle, it's like a B'rera type of situation, for whoever wins the raffle.

So I still think I'm right.