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Shabbat Parashat Tetzaveh | 5769

Tetzaveh | 11 Av 5769 | 07/03/2009

Jerusalem and Tzadok – Eternally Chosen

This week’s haftara makes special mention of the family of kohanim, descendants of Tzadok. At the time of the third Beit Hamikdash, they will be involved in the service described there (Yechezkel 43:19). Yechezkel mentioned them twice more (40: 45-46; 44:15) in similar roles. Who is this family? Why were they chosen? What can we learn from their prominence?

Should my wife and children give their own mishloach manot (=mm) or do the many mm we send suffice for everyone?

The Placement of Yihiyu L’Ratzon

Let us consider. The words, “Yihiyu l’ratzon imrei fi… (Let my mouth’s sayings and my heart’s thoughts be accepted in good will before You)” (Tehillim 19:15), are relevant both before and after prayer. Why did the rabbis institute it after the 18 blessings? It is because David said it only after 18 psalms. Isn’t it after 19 psalms? “Praiseworthy is the man…” (Tehillim 1) and “Why did the nations churn …” (ibid. 2) form one section.

An Incomplete Sale of an Apartment

The plaintiff (=pl) sold an apartment to the defendant (=def). The contract included a clause that def could move into the apartment on a certain date, after making the last payment. Def moved into the apartment, with permission, two months earlier than the date in the contract and a month before the final payment was made. Pl says that since def moved in before the last payment, he had been living in pl’s apartment and should pay rent for that time. Def says that he acquired the apartment when he moved in and thus should not pay rent.

Stealing a Stolen Object

This week in the Daf Hayomi (65a) we learned the guidelines used to determine how much a thief has to pay for the object that he stole. The basic rule is that, if the object stolen no longer exists, then the thief pays according to the value of the object at the time of the theft. However, if the object's value rose after the time of theft, and the thief actively damaged the object, for example, he stole a barrel of wine and later on broke it or drank it, then he has to pay according to its higher value at the time that it was damaged.

This edition of Hemdat Yamim is dedicated to the memory of

Yehudah ben Naftali Hertz Cohen (Kamofsky)

and
Yehoshua ben Yaakov z”l (Egon Mayer) By Ernest & Judith Gottdiener

as well as

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.

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).