Enforceability of Written Obligation to Pay Rabbi's Salary Supplement

Description

The community of Mád had signed a written agreement to pay their rabbi a supplement of twenty gold coins per week permanently, but some members claimed they only intended a three-year term and had signed without reading the document. The Chasam Sofer rules the obligation stands in full as written, invoking the principle that one who signs a document is treated as having authorized the drafter as a shalish, binding all contents, and that witnesses are presumed to know a document's contents before signing. He further grounds the ruling in the Rambam's mandate that communities must adequately compensate their rabbis and officials.