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Shabbat Parashat Vayeilech 5777

Vayeilech | 6 Tishrei 5777 | 08/10/2016

Parashat Hashavua: “For me, Closeness to Hashem is Good” (Tehillim 73:28)

Last week, we suggested that our main effort during the Yamim Noraim and, indeed, all the holidays of Tishrei is to seeking closeness to Hashem. Let us look at some of the ways that this finds expression. Teshuva (Repentance) – the very existence of the possibility of teshuva without direct connection to rectifying the tendency toward a specific sin implies closeness to Hashem. That is why our Rabbis taught us that teshuva preceded the creation of the world (see a list of seven such pre-creation creations – Pesachim 54a). That is why the days of teshuva begin in the beginning of the month of Elul.

Ask the Rabbi: Non-Leather Footwear on Yom Kippur

Is it permitted and proper to wear comfortable non-leather footwear on Yom Kippur?

Ein Ayah: A Head Speaker Sees the Good from All

Why was Rabbi Yehuda called “the head speaker in every place”? Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yossi, and Rabbi Shimon were sitting, and Yehuda from a family of converts was sitting near them. Rabbi Yehuda opened up and said: “How pleasant are the actions of this nation [the Romans]. They set up marketplaces, set up bridges, and set up bathhouses.” Rabbi Yossi was silent. Rabbi Shimon said: “All that they did, they did for their own sake …Yehuda from the family of converts told what they said, and the rulers found out. They said: “Yehuda who found a good thing to say will be elevated …”

P'ninat Mishpat: A Renter’s Responsibility for an Exploded Water Tank – part II

The defendants (=def) rented an apartment from the plaintiff (=pl). As the rental ended, def informed pl by text message that they had left. Workers were to do renovations before new renters came in. Pl claimed that the morning after def left, he and his workers found a major leak from the roof, which turned out to be from an exploded boiler, which, he saw by the indicator, had been left on. He argues that leaving on an electric boiler is negligence, as the accumulation of gases of boiled water is likely to cause an explosion, and according to the contract, def is obligated to pay for damages to the apartment that were not caused by normal use. He demands 2,200 shekels for a new tank. Def claims that they checked that all the electricity was off before leaving the apartment, and, in fact, they had not used the boiler in weeks, because in the summer, when they left, solar-heated water sufficed. They dispute the claim that pl found the problem on the morning after they left, because they communicated that day, and pl said nothing. Rather, it was the on second day, and in the meantime, pl’s workers worked and slept in the apartment, and one of them could have lit the boiler. In any case, def claims that a proper boiler does not explode when left on indefinitely because of double protection: a thermostat to shut the electricity when the water is hot enough and a gas-releasing valve to prevent over pressure. Pl says that the boiler’s malfunction is not his fault since he replaced it 1-2 years ago.

Refuah Sheleymah to

Elchanan ben Adina

Orit bat Miriam

Hemdat Yamim

is dedicated

to the memory of:

those who fell

in the war

for our homeland.

R' Eliyahu Carmel,

Rav Carmel's father,

who passed away on

8^th of Iyar 5776

Yechezkel Tzadik,

Yaffa's father,

who passed away on

11^th of Iyar 5776

Yitzchak Eliezer

ben

Avraham Mordechai Jacobson

who passed away 15^th of Elul

Mrs. Sara Wengrowsky

bat R’ Moshe Zev a”h.

who passed away on

10 Tamuz, 5774

Rabbi Reuven Aberman

zt”l

Eretz Hemdah's

beloved friend and

Member of Eretz Hemdah's Amutah
who passed away

on 9 Tishrei, 5776

R' Meir
ben

Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld

o.b.m

R ' Yaakov ben Abraham & Aisha

and

Chana bat Yaish & Simcha

Sebbag, z"l

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).