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Shabbat Parashat R'ei | 5770

R'ei | 28 Av 5770 | 06/08/2010

Parashat Hashavuah: “Also for Your Maid-Servant” – Could it Be?

The Torah, after teaching the law of a Jewish servant who wants to stay on after the six-year stint and needs his ear pierced, says: “… and also for your maid-servant (amah)shall you do so” (Devarim 15:16-17). This is hard to take at face value, for the Torah speaks in several contexts against the overuse of the institution of a Jewish maid-servant.

Ask the Rabbi: Paying an acquaintance a full agent’s fee

Case: The plaintiff (=pl) approached his neighbor, the defendant (=def), with information that acquaintances wanted to buy def’sapartment, which was being rented out. After consultations, def agreed to the sale. Pl, a registered real estate agent, demands a 2% fee from def (he is not demanding of the buyers for personal reasons). He presented himself as a friend, not an agent, and purposely did not raise the issue of a fee so as to not sour the deal. He says that even non-licensed people regularly take a full agent’s fee. While pl believes that def did not expect to pay, he received a service that is worth money to him (to buy a new apartment, he approached agents). Def argues that he never agreed to pay and that, according to law and the practice he knows, one does not pay acquaintances in such a case. He adds that if he knew he would have to pay an agent’s fee, he would not have sold at that price.

Ein Ayah: The Real Purpose of Ostensibly Excessive Wealth

Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmeini said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: How do we know that Hashem later agreed to Moshe’s claim [that the riches that Bnei Yisrael took from Egypt contributed to the sin of the Golden Calf]? The pasuk (Hoshea 2:10) says: “Silver I gave to her in abundance, and gold they made to the Ba’al (a form of idolatry).”

P’ninat Mishpat: The Validity of a Divorce Agreement Whose Applicability Lapsed

A couple with children got divorced, at which time there was a divorce agreement that included a sum of money to give to the mother, who had custody for the children’s child support. Later on, the father assumed custody, and child support payments ceased. Now the children have returned to their mother’s custody, and she wants to reactivate the old agreement.

Hemdat HaDaf Hayomi: The Different Types of Shevuot (38b)

This week in the Daf Hayomi, we will begin the sixth chapter of Masechet Shevuot, "Shevuot Hadayanim." Until now in Masechet Shevuot we learned about different types of oaths which a person took of his own volition, without being required to do so by Beit Din. The sixth chapter, as well as the following two, deals with the different types of oaths that Beit Din requires a person to take. In order to give a general picture of the upcoming sugyot (topics), we will try to outline the different types of oaths obligated by Beit Din.

Hemdat Yamim is dedicated in memory of

Rav Yehuda Amital zt”l,

RoshYeshivat Har Etzion

Hemdat Yamim
of this week is dedicated in memory of

Gital Gila

Bat Eliyahu Micha-el a”h

on the occasion of her yahrzeit, Av 21^st

Hemdat Yamim of this week is dedicated
in memory of

Yitzchak Eizik Ben Yehuda Leib Usdan, a"h,
whose Yahrtzeit is

the 29th of Av

This week’s Hemdat Yamim is dedicated in loving memory of
R' Meir ben
Yechezkel Shraga
Brachfeld

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).