Yom Kippur will begin tomorrow night. During the times of the Beis Hamikdash, the Holy Temple, lots were used to determine which animal should be used as an offering and which would be used for the “Azazel” ceremony.
The following moral dilemma involves a raffle drawing that was not unlike the lots used on Yom Kippur.
A Jewish day school once held a fundraising raffle offering a prize of $50,000. Each of the tickets cost $100. The drawing was set on a certain date, to be drawn in front of a large crowd. On the day of the drawing all of the tickets were placed in a large container and one of the names were picked. The school officials announced the name of the winner. “Congratulations to Ephraim Cohn”, they announced. Suddenly one of the raffle organizers realized that there was one ticket that was not placed into the container. They decided that they should do the raffle again because that one ticket was left out, and it was not fair to that person. That person paid for a ticket and he never had a chance to win because his ticket was not in the container.
They redid the raffle and a new name was picked. “Congratulations, to Naftali Weinberg”, they announced a second time. Ephraim, the first winner was furious. He walked over to the raffle official and argued that he should win the prize. “The whole reason that the raffle was redrawn was to give the one whose ticket was left out a chance. But now that that ticket was not drawn the prize should go to me”, Ephraim complained. Naftali, the second winner saw the commotion and walked over. He argued that the first drawing was null and void because it did not include all of the tickets. The prize should go therefore go to him.
Who do you think should win the prize? Should the prize go to the first winner, Ephraim, or to the second winner, Naftali?
Also, did they raffle organizers do the right thing by redoing the raffle?
See Veharev Na Volume One page 358