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Shabbat Parashat Bereishit 5780

Bereishit | 27 Tishrei 5780 | 26/10/2019

Parashat Hashavua: For the Purpose of Reishit

“In the beginning, Hashem created the heavens and the earth” (Bereishit 1:1). It is with these words that the Torah of Israel begins, and it ends with “before the eyes of all of Israel” (Devarim 34:12). The Torah, famously (see first Rashi of the Torah), did not begin with “This month is for you the head of the months” (Shemot 12:2). It also did not begin with the first stories of the patriarchs of the nation, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. It begins with the beginning of beginnings – with the primordial void and with the “spirit of Hashem was hovering over the water” (Bereishit 1:2).

Ask the Rabbi: Personal Thanks in Shemoneh Esrei

Following our grandchild’s birth, I have been adding personal thanks to HaShem in “Modim.” Is it appropriate to do so on Shabbat?

Ein Ayah: Natural Preparation to Do

Rabbi Eliezer said: At the moment that Israel answered “na’aseh [we will do]” before “nishmah [we will hear],” a heavenly voice emerged, saying to them: “Who revealed to my sons this secret that the angels use, as the pasuk says: ‘Bless Hashem, o angels, beings of great strength, who do His word to listen to the voice of His word’ (Tehillim 103:20)” – first it says “who do,” and subsequently it says “to listen.”

P'ninat Mishpat: Dissatisfaction with the Quality of a Sefer Torah – Part II

The plaintiff (=pl) hired his friend, the defendant (=def), a part-time sofer, to write a sefer Torah. The contract states a price of 130,000 shekels plus VAT and says that the writing will be mehudar. It also states that pl saw samples of def’s writing and that pl has the right to demand the switching of sections of lower levels of quality without charge, as long as Rabbi X agrees this is appropriate. Toward the end of the writing, after pl paid 113,780 shekels, pl experienced financial problems, looked to sell the sefer Torah, and asked for two sections to show to merchants. Several experts told him that the sefer would be worth, when finished, 70-80,000 shekels. Def presented a letter, from an expert with whom he is connected, saying that the writing is proper. Pl also sent def an email during the process in which he praised def’s work. Originally, pl asked either: 1) receiving a completed kosher sefer and a return of the money above the 80,000 shekel it is worth, or 2) employing mekach ta’ut (invalid purchase) and a return of all the money. Def argues that the sefer Torah is fine and worth the price and that, in any case, any kosher sefer is defined as mehudar. Also, since pl saw the work before agreeing and could have had the written sections checked all along, it is too late to claim mekach ta’ut. Also, a major reason that pl chose def is that he considers def a tzaddik, and this has not changed.

Bereishit 5780
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Bereishit 5780

We daven for a complete and speedy refuah for:

Nir Rephael ben Rachel Bracha
Efrat bat Sara

Refael Yitchak ben Chana

Netanel Ilan ben Sheina Tzipora

Netanel ben Sarah Zehava

Yehuda ben Chaya Esther

Meira bat Esther

Yair Menachem ben Yehudit Chana

Rivka Reena bat Gruna Natna

David Chaim ben Rassa

Lillian bat Fortune

Yafa bat Rachel Yente

Eliezer Yosef ben Chana Liba

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
Iyar 10

Rav Reuven Aberman z"l

Tishrei 9 5776

Mr. Shmuel Shemesh z"l
Sivan 17 5774

R' Eliyahu Carmel z"l

Rav Carmel's father

Iyar 8 5776

Mrs. Sara Wengrowsky

bat R’ Moshe Zev a”h.

Tamuz 10 5774

Rav Asher Wasserteil z"l

Kislev 9 5769

R' Meir ben

Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld z"l

R' Yaakov ben Abraham & Aisha

and

Chana bat Yaish & Simcha

Sebbag, z"l

Rav Yisrael Rozen z"l
Cheshvan 13, 5778

Rav Benzion Grossman z"l
Tamuz 23 5777

Rav Moshe Zvi (Milton)

Polin z"l

Tammuz 19 5778,

R' Abraham Klein z"l

Iyar 18

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).