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Shabbat Parashat Chayei Sarah| 5771

Chayei Sarah | 22 Cheshvan 5771 | 30/10/2010

Parashat Hashavuah: Where’s the Beef?

This week’s haftara deals with David’s son, Adoniya’s, failed attempt to seize the throne during his father’s last days and Bat Sheva’s successful bid to secure the kingship for her son, Shlomo, to whom it was promised. While there is much to explore behind the scenes of this struggle, we want to highlight one apparently small but actually important point.

Ask the Rabbi: Who gets to keep item left in shul?

In the beit midrash where I used to learn, I found a sefer with the name of someone who learned there in the past. I tracked him down, and he said I could keep it. I have since moved away and began wondering whether the owner had the right to let me keep his sefer since the beit midrash has a sign that whoever leaves seforim unattended for an extended period allows the yeshiva to take them.

Ein Ayah: The Blessing of Productivity for the Pious

The early pious people would wait an hour before prayer and an hour after prayer. Since they spent nine hours on prayer, how were they able to preserve their Torah scholarship, and when did they do their work? Because they were pious people, their Torah was preserved and their work was blessed.

P’ninat Mishpat: Payment for a Benefit Provided Despite the Recipient’s Protest

A renter wanted to paint his rental apartment in a special way for his own benefit, although it was not necessary, in a manner that would raise the value of the apartment for future renting or sale. He demanded of the landlord to take part in the expenses, but the latter, while admitting that the value would go up, refused to pay. The renter said that he would paint anyway, and then he would force the landlord in beit din to pay for his benefit. Is the landlord required to pay?

Hemdat Yamim is dedicated

in loving memory of
Tamar Lichtenstadt z”l.
May her memory be a blessing.

This week’s Hemdat Yamim is dedicated
in loving memory of
Jack Levin –Chaim Yaakov
ben Shlomo Yitzchak HaLevi –
by his family.

This edition of
Hemdat Yamim
is dedicated
to the memory of
George Weinstein,

Gershon ben
Yehudah Mayer,
a lover of the Jewish Nation Torah and Land

and
R' Meir ben
Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld
o.b.m

Hemdat Yamim is endowed by
Les & Ethel Sutker of Chicago, Illinois in loving memory of
Max and Mary Sutker and
Louis and Lillian Klein, z”l.

A weekly divrei Torah leaflet: A Glimpse at the Parasha, Ask the Rabbi, From the writings of Harav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook, zt”l, Pninat Mishpat (Jewish Monetary Law).