Hebrew | Francais

Shabbat Parashat Matot Masei 5777

Matot | 28 Tamuz 5777 | 22/07/2017

Parashat Hashavua: They Would Grab for Themselves

The midrash (Bamidbar Rabba 22:7) notes that there are three valuable presents – wisdom, strength, and wealth – that can be a part of a person’s downfall. The examples, one Jewish and one non-Jewish, were: for wisdom, Achitofel and Bilam; for strength, Shimshon and Goliath; and for wealth, Korach and Haman. The midrash continues that the tribes of Gad and Reuven were blessed with great flocks but because they loved their money so much that they settled outside Eretz Yisrael, away from their brethren, they were the first to be exiled.

Ask the Rabbi: Whose Minhag About Being Chazan Should an Avel Follow?

I was in an (Ashkenazi) shul on Rosh Chodesh morning, when a visitor who is an avel asked if he could be chazan for Shacharit or whether there were other avelim. The gabbai said that there were no other avelim but that normally avelim are not chazanim on Rosh Chodesh. The avel said that he received a psak to serve as chazan, which he proceeded to do until Hallel. Was that the right course of action?

Ein Ayah: Good and Evil Depend on the Actions

The pasuk says: “Hashem said to me: Pass through the city, through Yerushalayim, and etch a sign on the foreheads of the weary and distressed people, due to all of the abominations that are done in its midst” (Yechezkel 9:4). Hashem said to (the angel Gavriel): Go and mark on the foreheads of the righteous a sign made out of black ink, so that the damaging angels will not have power over them, and on the foreheads of the evil a mark of blood so that the damaging angels will have power over them.

P'ninat Mishpat: Unfulfilled Raffle Prize – part I

The plaintiff (=pl) spent 2,050 shekels on raffle tickets sold by an institution (=def); the first prize was a furnished four-room apartment. The drawing was held in Feb. 2012, and pl won the first prize and was supposed to receive the apartment within six months. However, the apartment was part of a property owned jointly by def and Reuven. They needed to have a redrawing of the property approved and then build an extra room. Due to a dispute between def and Reuven regarding stairs leading to the apartment, municipal permission def received was not usable, and as of 2015, the apartment is still not completed or transferred to pl’s name. Pl demands that def should transfer ownership to him and either build another room and provide furniture or pay their costs. Def responds that they are bound only to the raffle’s takanon (regulations), written before the drawing. Accordingly, if they are unable to complete building the apartment, they need to pay the raffle winner the amount of money they spent on the apartment or perhaps sell their portion of the property and give pl the proceeds after subtracting expenses.

We daven for a complete and speedy refuah for:

Benzion ben Rachel

Lillian bat Fortune

Eliezer Yosef ben Chana Liba

Yehoshafat Yecheskel ben Milka

Ro'i Moshe Elchanan ben Gina Devra

Together with all cholei Yisrael

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

Mrs. Sara Wengrowsky

bat R’ Moshe Zev a”h.

who passed away on

10 Tamuz 5774

Rav Asher Wasserteil z"l

who passed away on

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

Mina Presser

bat Harav David and Bina

on the occasion of her yahrzeit,

24 Tammuz

and members of her family

who perished in the shoah

Al Kiddush Hashem

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).