Reuven, one of the respected elders of our community, was honored with an aliyah at his grandson’s bar mitzvah. In appreciation of the event, he pledged to give the shul $100,000. A few days later, to the shock of his family and friends, he suddenly passed away.

The board of the shul would like his heirs to follow through on their father’s pledge, but his children want to be certain that they are indeed obligated to give the shul $100,000 from their father’s estate.

Q: Are the heirs obligated to pay their father’s pledge?

A: Similar to a proprietary act (kinyan) that hands over ownership in a transaction between ordinary people, a pledge (neder) to the Divine (hekdesh) also affects a transfer to hekdesh. However, Poskim note (Y.D. 258:7) that this principle is limited to pledges to the Bais HaMikdash. Pledges to tzedaka, e.g. monetary donations to charity, require the regular parameters of kinyanim. Consequently, a pledge to a charity is just like any other vow that obligates the individual to fulfill his vow, but it does not grant ownership of the pledged amount to the charity.

Along those lines, Rema (C. M. 212:7) rules that one who pledges money to the poor must honor his pledge, as it is considered a vow. If, however, he dies before paying the money he pledged, his heirs are not obligated to fulfill that pledge. Furthermore, Rema (C. M. 252:2) rules that in this case, not only are the heirs not obligated to fulfill their father’s pledge, but even the mitzvah to fulfill the wishes of the deceased (mitzvah l’kayem divrei ha’mes) does not apply.

However, other Poskim maintain that although a pledge does not transfer ownership of money, it generates a shibud – a lien – on the father’s property in the same manner as a loan. Therefore, just like children must repay their father’s documented loans, they must also fulfill their father’s pledge (see Chasam Sofer C. M. 114).

Also, according to many Poskim, there is a difference between a promise to donate money and a promise to donate an object. In the event that the father designated a particular item to be given to tzedaka, rather than a general pledge to donate money, the children would be obligated to give that item to the designated recipient (Nesivos 250:4).

For all practical purposes, the Shul board in our case cannot require the heirs to fulfill their father’s pledge, as they may uphold the position that exempts them from that obligation (kim li).

However, based on Sefer Chassidim (170), it is advisable that they fulfill their father’s pledge. This fulfillment would generate merit and atonement for their father. He writes that if children fulfill the instructions of their father, it is considered as though the father himself performed that act.