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Shabbat Parashat Masei 5771

Masei | 28 Tamuz 5771 | 30/07/2011

Parashat Hashavuah: When to Ask the Questions

The Torah says that an unintentional murderer who is sent to an ir miklat (city of refuge) must stay there until the death of the kohen gadol (Bamidbar 35:28). The gemara (Makkot 11b) explains the connection as follows. The kohen gadol bears some responsibility for what happened because he should have prayed that such deaths not occur. The gemara continues that if the kohen gadol was appointed between the murder and the sentencing to ir miklat, the murderer goes free with the kohen gadol’s death. The gemara wonders: what could the kohen gadol have done in this case? It answers that he could have prayed that the sentencing would not have ended with a sentence to go to ir miklat.

Ask the Rabbi: Chanukat Habayit During the Three Weeks

May I make a chanukat habayit (“inauguration” of a home) celebration in Israel during the Three Weeks, before Rosh Chodesh and the beginning of the Nine Days.

Ein Ayah: Who Is an Am Ha’aretz?

Who is an am ha’aretz? Rabbi Eliezer says: whoever does not recite Kri’at Shema both in the day and in the night. Rabbi Yehoshua says: whoever does not put on tefillin. Ben Azai says: whoever does not have tzitzit on his garment. Rabbi Natan says: whoever does not have a mezuza on his entranceway. Rabbi Yonatan ben Yosef says: whoever has sons and does not raise them to be involved in Torah study.

P'ninat Mishpat: Initiating a Din Torah Against the Plaintiff’s Will

There are times when a potential defendant asks beit din to adjudicate a dispute when the potential plaintiff, who normally initiates these matters, is not interested in adjudication at the time or place. One common case is when a husband asks beit din to set the amount of child or spousal support before the wife asks for it because of his expectation that she will later sue him in secular court. There was a case in 5730 where the regional court refused to get involved in such a case, but the Supreme Rabbinical Court required them to do so. This article discusses sources the two batei din cited, as well as other sources.

This edition of
Hemdat Yamim

is dedicated
to the memory of
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

This edition of
Hemdat Yamim
is dedicated to the memory of

Rabbi Shlomo Merzel o.b.m,
who passed away
on Iyar 10th, 5771

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).