By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com You can tell from the traffic.  This past June 25th, President Biden passed the Keep Kids Fed Act (KKFA). Interestingly enough, the move received bi-partisan support (maybe not so interesting, as which politician in his right mind would vote against free food for children?). Essentially, this re-started the food giveaway for children during the 2022 summer months.  The food pickup generally happens from public schools but in a number of areas it is also from other schools and buildings.  And, although many parents do not know this, many, many summer camps across the country are feeding their campers with the free KKFA food.       ***PLEASE HELP A STRUGGLING FAMILY MARRYING OFF A CHILD*** https://thechesedfund.com/zechornilah/help-a-struggling-family-marry-off-a-child                                                       CLICK ABOVE TWO OR THREE REPERCUSSIONS This fact has two repercussions – and possibly three.  The first repercussion is that this means that the parents themselves may not avail themselves of food boxes for their children that are in camp.  This would be considered double-dipping or Gzeilah (see Shulchan Aruch CM 348:2). It can also be a significant chillul Hashem, as seen in the Tosefta of the tenth chapter of Bava Kammah.  Indeed, the Shach (subparagraph 2), Maharshal, Rambam, SMaG, Tur, Vilna Gaon and Nesivos all hold that it is a biblical prohibition. THE SECOND REPERCUSSION The second repercussion, and this is the part that camp owners, may not like is as follows: The overwhelming majority of parents who have registered their children for camp did so before June 25th of this year.  It is clear that no one really knew that President Biden was going to sign this law.  Indeed, it kind of came as a shock to most people.  That being the case, we may have a Choshain Mishpat case here – a possible financial tort. When the parents registered their child for camp the price was a package deal – including the food.  But now, the camps are getting that food for free.  Isn’t there a halachic obligation for the camp owners that serve KKFA food to return that money to the parents? NO PARALLEL It is interesting to note that, as far as this author knows, there is no exact parallel to this question in either the Shulchan Aruch or in the commentaries or even the responsa literature.  [As of this deadline, the author has not received an answer from the leading Batei Dinim in Eretz Yisroel.] Someone had argued that the parents had contracted with the camp owner to feed their child – what difference would there be where the food may come from?  For example, if the camp owner would have begged a wealthy person to have provided free food to his campers, the parents would certainly not be entitled to a partial refund.  So why here would the case be any different? The counter-argument to this might be that had the camps not served the children the KKFA food – then the parents would have been eligible to receive this food on behalf of their children. One of the Poskim that this author had posed this question to compared it to a similar case […]

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