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Shabbat Parashat Vayechi 5777

Vayechi | 16 Tevet 5777 | 14/01/2017

Parashat Hashavua: Zera Yisrael

We have been dealing, over the last few weeks, with ideas to help integrate olim from the Former Soviet Union into Israeli society as full Jews. A group with a real obstacle is children of Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers. They are, of course, not Jewish unless they undergo conversion. Yet, it is our opinion that we should not look at them as if they have, in the meantime, no connection to the Jewish People. The great majority were treated as Jews in the Soviet Union, where a citizen’s nationality is determined by his father, not his mother. As a result, they suffered from anti-Semitism. How shocked were many, upon arriving in Israel, to find out that halacha does not view them as Jewish and that they cannot get married here?

Ask the Rabbi: How Many People Together to Start Shemoneh Esrei? – part I

I daven at a small minyan at which some people daven slower than the rest and others come late. We do not always have ten to start Shemoneh Esrei with the chazan. Should we wait for ten, or is six enough?

Ein Ayah: Proper Foundations of the Home

Mishna: There are three things a man must say within his home as Shabbat is about to enter: “Did you take tithes? Did you take part in the eiruv? Light the candles.” Gemara: From where do we know this? “You shall know that there is peace in your tent and relate to [the situation in] your home, and you shall not sin” (Iyov 5:24).

P'ninat Mishpat: Sub-Par Guest House Experience? – part II

The plaintiff (=pl) runs a guesthouse, which hosted a group of students in a program organized by an informal education resource organization (=def). Def’s representative #1 (later replaced by rep. #2), who had stayed at the guesthouse before, negotiated after receiving a brochure about pl’s services. The group came for Shabbat with approximately 40 people for a price of 4,500 shekels for lodgings and 2,500 shekels for food, after giving a 3,500 shekel down payment. The group came closer to Shabbat than envisioned, without the group’s leader, and complaints were raised about lack of room. Some students were supposed to sleep on mattresses, and bedding was available, but many slept without bedding or on the floor because they did not find them. The same is true of disposable utensils. Food was available for seuda shlishit as well, but the group did not take it. A representative of pl testified that on Friday, he showed a school staff member where all provisions were. Another major complaint was that pl did not have a kashrut certificate. (Some of the staff and of the girls did not eat pl’s food for that reason or because they did not like it). On Motzaei Shabbat, def refused to pay the fee’s balance (3,500 shekels) due to the things they claimed were missing (some will be mentioned in the ruling). Def is countersuing for 6,500 shekels – for return of the down payment and for the cost for an apartment that a staff member took for his family when he saw there was no room for them. While there were issues to be worked out between the school and def, they were not brought before beit din.

Hemdat Yamim

is dedicated

to the memory of:

those who fell

in wars

for our homeland

Eretz Hemdah's beloved friends

and Members of

Eretz Hemdah's Amutah

Rav Shlomo Merzel z”l

whose yahrtzeit

is the 10^th of Iyar

Rav Reuven Aberman

z"l

who passed away

on 9 Tishrei, 5776

Mr. Shmuel Shemesh
who passed away on

Sivan 17, 5774

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

Mrs. Sara Wengrowsky

bat R’ Moshe Zev a”h.

who passed away on

10 Tamuz 5774

Rav Asher Wasserteil z"l

who passed away

Kislev 9, 5769

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).