Tearing k'riah

Hi,

Today we begin a new topic: Mourning. It is a sad topic, but it is an inescapable part of life, and Jewish law has quite a bit to say about it.

The Torah presents us with numerous models, such as the actions of Avraham in mourning for Sarah, and the actions of Yaakov in mourning for his son Yosef, and these cases are the model for much of what Jews do after suffering a loss.

One who loses a close relative - parent, sibling, spouse or child - must tear his clothing.

(Code of Jewish Law Yoreh Deah 340:1)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

The week after Shavuot

Hi,

Although Shavuot is a brief holiday, a small element of celebration continues for a week afterward.

When we have a Beit haMikdash, Jews who come to the Beit haMikdash for aliyah laregel ( pilgrimage for holidays) bring a special korban (offering). That korban may be brought for a full week - Shavuot itself, plus 6 days.

To mark those days when one could bring this celebratory korban, we do not say tachanun for 6 days after Shavuot.

(Mishneh Berurah 131:36)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Yom Tov Food

Hi,

One last not on Yom Tov food, after that whole Eruv Tavshilin topic:

"One should not scrimp on Yom Tov expenditures; one must create honor and pleasure for the day, just as for Shabbat."

(Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 529:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Please don't eat the Eruv (yet)

Hi,

We have been discussing the Eruv Tavshilin.

As we have said, preparing the Eruv Tavshilin before Yom Tov is that start of one's general Shabbat preparations, and permits those preparations to continue on Friday.

The Eruv Tavshilin must remain intact in order to permit the continuation of those preparations on Friday; it may not be eaten before Shabbat. However, one certainly may eat it on Shabbat itself.

(Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 527:15)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Yom haMeyuchas

Hi,

We interrupt our discussion of Eruv Tavshilin to introduce Yom haMeyuchas. Today [Monday] is a special day on the calendar: Yom haMeyuchas יום המיוחס.

"Yichus יחוס" is usually used in reference to lineage, but it means "association." Someone with "good yichus" is someone who has good associates. Similarly, a day that is "meyuchas" is a day with special associates.

There are two common explanations for why this day has special yichus:

1. One reading of the pesukim detailing the dialogue between HaShem and Moshe before Sinai shows that on this day Moshe conveyed HaShem's message, "You will be a kingdom of kohanim and a sacred nation," to the Jews. (Taamei haMinhagim)

2. This day has nothing inherently special, but it is the day after Rosh Chodesh and the day before the 3 days of preparation for the presentation of the Torah, and that gives it special status.

There are no major celebrations for this day, but in davening we omit Tachanun.

Either way, Happy Yom haMeyuchas!
Mordechai

What an Eruv Tavshilin does not permit

Hi,

We have said that one may use an Eruv Tavshilin to permit cooking on Yom Tov for the following Shabbat.

However: This only permits cooking on Friday for Shabbat. When Yom Tov is Thursday and Friday, one may not cook on Thursday for Shabbat, despite having prepared an Eruv Tavshilin.

(Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 527:13)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Making an Eruv Tavshilin for others, Part II

Hi,

We have said that one may prepare an Eruv Tavshilin on behalf of others, who did not prepare one for themselves.

Those others need not even know about it, when one does it. One simply creates the Eruv Tavshilin, gives it to a third party who formally acquires it on behalf of those other people, then takes it back and recites the formula we have discussed.

(Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 527:9-12)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Creating an Eruv Tavshilin for others

Hi,

Although the purpose of the Eruv Tavshilin is for each household to individually begin its Shabbat preparations before the preceding Yom Tov, one may actually create an Eruv Tavshilin on behalf of others who have forgotten to create their own.

When one does this, one includes an additional phrase in the Eruv dedication, stating that the Eruv is "for us and for all Jews living in this town," as noted in the Artscroll Siddur pg. 654. One must also give the Eruv Tavshilin to someone else to acquire on behalf of those other people.

However, those who forget to create their own Eruv Tavshilin may only rely on this on rare occasion; because this method really defeats the purpose of Eruv Tavshilin, one may not regularly rely on others' Eruvei Tavshilin.

(Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 527:7; Mishneh Berurah 527:22)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The food of the Eruv Tavshilin

Hi,

What sort of food does one use for the Eruv Tavshilin, beyond the idea (noted yesterday) that it should consist of a cooked food and a baked food?

1. Each food item should have a minimum of an olive-sized volume, to be considered significant. Some prefer an egg-sized amount for bread, if bread is used, since that's the amount that triggers a biblical obligation for birkat hamazon.

2. The foods should be the sort of food you would eat with bread at a real meal, rather than snack foods.

3. The foods should be respectable food items, to honor the mitzvah.

(Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 527:3-4; Mishneh Berurah 527:8, 11)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Bread and a cooked food

Hi,

As we have already noted, the purpose of creating an Eruv Tavshilin is to permit cooking on a Friday Yom Tov for Shabbat, by beginning the cooking process before Yom Tov.

We try to set aside one cooked food and one baked food, since one may wish to either cook or bake for Shabbat on Yom Tov, and they are fundamentally different processes in the eyes of Jewish law. However, in practice, one who only set aside a cooked food may rely on that item for both cooking and baking.

(Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 527:2)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Cooking early during the day on a Friday Yom Tov for Shabbat

Hi,

This one is complicated, but it's a worthwhile point:

The core leniency in the Eruv Tavshilin is this:

The prohibition against cooking on a Friday Yom Tov for the ensuing Shabbat is rabbinic, since on a biblical level one could argue that guests might still arrive on Yom Tov and eat the food that day.

Therefore, the rabbis were able to create an "Eruv Tavshilin" enactment circumventing their own rabbinic prohibition, permitting cooking on Yom Tov for Shabbat.

Based on this logic, one should only exploit Eruv Tavshilin to cook early in the day on Yom Tov for Shabbat, at a time when guests might realistically arrive.

(Mishneh Berurah 527:3)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Cooking on Yom Tov for after Yom Tov

Hi,

We have begun to discuss Eruv Tavshilin.

We have said that one may not cook on Yom Tov for another day, even if that other day is Shabbat. However, one who cooks permissbly on Yom Tov for Yom Tov itself, and produces leftovers, may use those leftovers for other days, Shabbat or otherwise.

(Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 527:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

What's an Eruv Tavshilin?

Hi,

This year, Shavuot is Friday and Shabbat. Any time there is a Yom Tov on Friday, we enter an "Eruv Tavshilin" situation.

To introduce the topic: One may not cook on Yom Tov in preparation for Shabbat. However, one may cook on Yom Tov for Shabbat, if one began those Shabbat preparations before Yom Tov started.

Preparing an "Eruv Tavshilin" - literally, "mixture of cooked foods" - means that one sets aside a baked food and a cooked food, before Yom Tov, for Shabbat. There is a specific declaration to be recited, designating these foods for this purpose - see the Artscroll Siddur, pg. 654.

Gd-willing, we'll discuss this more in the coming days.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Laws of Shavuot

Hi,

For laws of Shavuot, see the following older posts:

Eating Dairy on Shavuot

Staying up Shavuot night

The Shavuot davening

The Shavuot Torah reading

Shavuot Grass and Trees

Celebration of the week following Shavuot

Note that any dates/times in those posts refer to the year in which I published the posts, and not this year.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Protecting people who do the right thing

Hi,

Technically, a person who finds an item and returns it to the owner should be required to swear that he did not harm the item, and that he is returning everything he found. However, to ensure that people will guard and return lost property, the court does not recognize the right of an owner to demand that oath.

This is much like the American "Good Samaritan" law which absolves a rescuer from liability for any damage which takes place during administration of CPR.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 267:27)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Reimbursement for maintaining a found item

Hi,

If I find property which requires maintenance, such as an animal requiring feeding, then when the owner claims the property, I may demand reimbursement for that maintenance.

I need not swear an oath to validate my cost estimate; this oath should be a requirement, but the sages waived it due to concern that people would refrain from taking care of lost property rather than face swearing an oath.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 267:26-27)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Responsibility for found items

Hi,

One who announces that he has found property becomes an official guardian of the item. He must protect it from harm, and do what is needed to maintain its state.

If this guardian is careless, and that carelessness results in depreciation or destruction of that item, then he is responsible to reimburse the owner at such time as the owner comes forward to claim it.

If the item is one which is easily replaced, the finder may 'purchase it' and use it for himself, paying its value to the owner when he claims it. (Some rule that this is only true if the item is one regarding which the owner wouldn't care whether he has that specific item, or any other item like it.)

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 267:15-17, 21; Meirat Einayim 267:30)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Returning lost property to unethical people

Hi,

If a person is known to be unethical, and he claims an item you have found, you should not return it to him even if he provides identifying information. This is because the system of using "identifying information" is vulnerable to wanton abuse.

A person who is known to be unethical must actually bring witnesses that the item is his.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 267:5)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Care in announcing a lost object

Hi,

When announcing that one has found an item, one should not be too specific - lest someone falsely claim the item as his own. One should announce that he discovered a coin, or a garment, or a document, and then the claimant will have to identify its unique characteristics in order to get it.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 267:4)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Finding the owner

Hi,

One who finds lost property and cannot identify the owner should announce the item in the synagogues and study halls, but only after services and not during them.

One who fears that the item will be stolen from him by unsavory people due to excessive publicity should instead spread the word person-to-person.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 267:3; Meirat Einayim 267:4)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Re-returning

Hi,

One must return a lost item until it is fully "returned." This means that if one is returning an animal, and one puts it in the owner's yard and it runs away again, one must continue to return it.

The exception, as we said several emails ago, is if the owner is irresponsible, knowingly creating a situation in which his property will be lost.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 267:2)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Returning a menace

Hi,

One who finds a dangerous animal, such as an animal which is known to harm children, does not return it to the owner. Rather, anyone who finds such an animal should destroy it.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 266:4)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Demanding payment for returning lost property

Hi,

One may not demand payment in exchange for returning a lost object. However, one who loses time from his own work in order to return someone's property may demand S'char Batalah payment.

The extent of S'char Batalah payment is subject to some debate. It is either:
a) The value of the work one lost,
or
b) The amount one would have to pay someone in his line of work, to get him to take that time off.

Both opinions have strong sources behind them.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 265:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Undignified Retrieval, part II

Hi,

We learned yesterday that one is not required to return someone's lost property if it is beneath his dignity. We defined "beanth his dignity" as a case in which one would not even retrieve such an item, in such a position, for himself.

One certainly may transcend the law and forgive his dignity, and retrieve the item for the person.

However, there is a dispute as to whether one may transcend the law and return this object anyway, if a person's dignity comes from his standing in Torah study - in other words, may a sage forgive the honor of his Torah and stoop into the gutter to pick up the tennis ball, or does he not have the right to do so, since the honor comes from Torah and not from himself.

Even if one may not do this, though, he certainly may transcend the law by financially making up the loss to the party who lost the item.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 263:3)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Undignified Retrieval

Hi,

One is not obligated to retrieve and return an object to its owner if retrieval of that sort of item is beneath his dignity. The barometer is this: "Would I retrieve this item for myself?"

In other words: If one is getting into his car and he notices a dirty tennis ball in the gutter, then if he would stoop into the gutter to pick up his own dirty tennis ball, he must do so for someone else. If he wouldn't do it for himself, he need not do it for another (although, obviously, he may not then take it for himself).

More on this tomorrow...

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 263:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai