Encroaching on a Hired Rabbi's Designated Communal Income

Description

The Chasam Sofer rules that diverting income from a formally hired communal rabbi — fees from weddings, divorces, and similar functions — constitutes outright robbery, not merely unfair competition. He resolves the Maharya's apparent disapproval of rabbinic fees by distinguishing the older informal model of rabbinic leadership from the modern system of contractual appointment, under which such fees are the rabbi's earned wages, not payment for mitzvos.