Honesty, Justice and a Tisha b'Av message

Hi,

"So speaks Gd: A wise person shall not honor himself for his wisdom, and a powerful person shall not honor himself for his power, a wealthy person shall not honor himself for his wealth.

"Rather, for this an honored person should honor himself: Take insight and know Me, for I am Gd, who performs kindness and justice in the land. These are the elements I desire; this is the word of Gd."

(Jeremiah 9:22-23, the last verses of the Haftorah for Tisha b'Av morning)

I hope you fasted well,
Mordechai

Observing Tisha b'Av

Hi,

"Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: One who eats and drinks on Tisha b'Av is as though he ate and drank on Yom Kippur. Rabbi Akiva said: One who goes to work on Tisha b'Av will not see any sign of blessing from it.

"The sages said: One who goes to work on Tisha b'Av and does not mourn for Jerusalem will not merit to see its celebration, as it is written, 'Rejoice with Jerusalem and celebrate in it, all who love it! Rejoice in it, all who mourn for it.'

"Based on this, our sages taught: One who mourns for Jerusalem will merit to see its joy; one who does not mourn for Jerusalem will not see its joy."

(Talmud, Taanit 30b)

May we soon see the joy of Jerusalem,
Mordechai

Inviting a guest who won't accept the inivtation

Hi,

When dealing with other people, one must be sure that they do not misinterpret his actions in a way that will help him. So, for example, one may not make a good impression by inviting a person to a meal or event while knowing that the person cannot attend.

Two notes on this specific case, though:
1. This applies only to repetitive, pressing invitations; asking once or twice is fine and good, lest the person be insulted that he is never invited.

2. This applies only if the invitation actually creates a misimpression. The widespread practice of 'inviting' relatives and distant friends to an event in order to make them feel a part of the celebration is appropriate, because everyone involved understands what is really happening.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 228:6; Meirat Einayim 228:8)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Informing a buyer of all defects

Hi,

Yesterday we said that a seller must inform a buyer of all defects.

This rule applies even if the product's defect will not directly affect the consumer. For example, a Kosher butcher may not sell non-Kosher meat to a non-Jew without telling him the meat is not Kosher. Although the non-Jew certainly may eat non-Kosher meat, he thinks he is buying expensive Kosher meat, he assumes the Kosher butcher is selling him Kosher meat and so he is being defrauded.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 228:6)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Laundry and Haircuts on Thursday night after Tisha b'Av

Hello,

We interrupt the series on Honesty to note a quirk in this year's Tisha b'Av calendar.

As we noted here, the Beit haMikdash burned until midday on the 10th of Av, and so the mourning practices of the Nine Days continue until then.

However: This year, Tisha b'Av is a Thursday, and we need to start preparing for Shabbat immediately afterward. Therefore, one may bathe, shave and launder clothing right after Tisha b'Av ends. The other mourning practices (such as refraining from music, meat and wine) do continue until midday the following day, which is 1:08 PM this year in Allentown.

(Mishneh Berurah 558:3)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Honest browsers, buyers and sellers

Hi,

We learned yesterday that one may not ask a business proprietor about the price of an item if one does not intend to buy. However: If it is standard practice for people to ask a price without intending to buy immediately, then one may ask the price without intend to buy immediately.

Similarly, one would be permitted to browse store displays without intending to buy, if that were known to be standard practice; the owner understands what is going on, and is not defrauded.

One who is trying to sell a product is not allowed to omit mention of a flaw in the product; he must be up-front and declare the flaw, even if the consumer would not have expected it. This applies regardless of who the consumer is and what his type of conduct is; it is the merchant's honesty that matters.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 228:6)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

"Just Looking"

Hi,

One example of 'verbal fraud' is to inquire from a business owner about a price, without any desire to purchase the item and without informing him that one has no desire to purchase the item.

(Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 228:4)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Financial and verbal fraud

Hi,

Just as Judaism prohibits financial fraud, so it prohibits verbal fraud; the technical Hebrew term is "Ona'at Devarim אונאת דברים."

Regarding verbak fraud, Gd promises that if the victim calls out to Gd, he will be answered immediately.

(Code of Jewish Law, Choshen Mishpat 228:1)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Honesty

Hi,

Good morning. As we near Tisha b'Av, here's a relevant topic from a few years ago.

Tisha b'Av commemorates many tragedies, but one of the main ones is the destruction of the second Beit haMikdash. We are taught that this devastation was triggered by intramural strife, so it is appropriate that we spend some time on studying social relations. Our new topic is: Honesty.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch taught (Horeb, paragraph 369):

"Gd, Who created man to be just - that is to say, to leave and give to all entities in all relations that which is their due - has also endowed his mind with the faculty of mirroring the reality of things in their various relations so that man may be able to perceive the entities and their relations, and on the strength of that knowledge, give to them what the teachings of justice lay down as their right. This reproduction of reality in the mind is Truth. Truth, therefore, is a precondition of Justice...

"But just as Gd has endowed the human mind with the faculty of mirroring the reality of its owner's external world, so also He has given him the faculty of revealing to others the reality as known to him by means of his language. And thus, the individual can live not only according to his own experience, but the whole of mankind can co-operate for the improvement of the human mind, the individual can inherit the spiritual treasure of all mankind, and, by becoming richer in truth, also become richer in justice, and lead a life of action instead of a life of mere experience."

Have a good day,
Mordechai

The Nine Days and Tishah b'Av

Hello,

Nine days of intense mourning for the Beit haMikdash and other tragedies in Jewish history begin on Tuesday evening, July 21, and run through Tishah b'Av on Thursday July 30.

For posts on the laws related to these days, please go here. Note that these posts are from last year, so the specific dates and times in them will not be accurate for this year.

Have a good day,
Mordechai

A mistaken deathbed gift, Part II

Hi,

If a person is on his deathbed and he distributes all of his estate, but saves some, we assume that he took into consideration the fact that he might miraculously survive.

Therefore, if he does survive then all of the gifts he gave are still valid, and are not disqualified by his survival (unless he specified during the giving that he is distributing these gifts with the expectation that he will not survive).

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 250:7)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

A mistaken deathbed gift

Hi,

We have been learning about gifts.

If a person is terminally ill and bedridden and he gives away all of his property, and then he is healed to the point that he regains mobility and is free of illness, then his gifts are automatically nullified. It is assumed that he only gave away all of his assets because he believed he would die from that bout of illness.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 250:2)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Deathbed gifts

Hi,

A deathbed gift is automatically binding; it does not require any of the technical methods of closing a transaction in order to be binding.

The Talmudic rationale for this is that if a dying person had to jump through hoops to make his gift valid, that would torment him and even hasten his death.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 250:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Giving a gift through an agent

Hi,

If I give a gift to a recipient's agent, the gift is acquired by the recipient at the moment when the agent receives it.

The agent need not be appointed by the recipient; since the gift is beneficial to him, the gift may occur without his knowledge.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 243:1; Meirat Einayim 243:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Posthumous gifts

Hi,

A gift which is intended to apply posthumously ("Upon my death, so-and-so receives my pony") is not valid under Jewish law.

However: A gift which is given while one is alive, but hidden from public revelation until after death, is still valid.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 242:6)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

A coerced gift

Hi,

If a person is forced into giving a gift, the gift is invalid regardless of any contract the giver signed.

Even if the giver has no proof that he was coerced, if we (an outside authority, such as a court of law) know it was coerced, the gift is invalid.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 242:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Partial gifts

Hi,

One may give a gift and reserve certain rights - for example, one may give a present to Person X with the stated condition that Person X may not in turn give it to Person Y, or may not use the present in a particular way.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 241:5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Verbal commitment to give a gift, Part II

Hi,

We have begun discussing the laws of gifts.

If Robert says to Sam, "I am giving you Todd's house as gift," and Todd agrees and even confirms this with a physical act signifying his acquiescence, the gift is still non-binding for both Robert and Todd.

This is because Robert's words are non-binding, as are all verbal gifts; Todd's confirmation was simply a confirmation of empty words.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 241:1; Meirat Einayim 241:5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Promising to give a gift

Hi,

Today we begin a new topic, one we covered a few years back: Giving gifts.

The laws of gifts are primarily documented in the "Choshen Mishpat" section of the Code of Jewish Law, and deal with the question of when and how a gift is legally acquired.

A verbal declaration that one will give a gift is not binding [unless it is worded as an oath]. However, one who recants such a statement, if the statement is not obviously false/exaggerated to begin with, is considered to be dealing in bad faith.

(Code of Jewish Law Choshen Mishpat 241:1; Sefer Meirat Einayim 241:4)

Be well,
Mordechai

Letting people know one is fasting

Hi,

Ordinarily we say that one should not publicly display his acts of piety, due to concerns for arrogance. However, one is supposed to let other Jews know that he is fasting today, in order to encourage others to participate in the fast as well.

(Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 565:6; Mishneh Berurah 565:14)

Have an easy and meaningful fast,
Mordechai

17th of Tammuz - Beyond fasting

Hi,

This coming Thursday is the fast of the 17th of Tammuz - Shiva Asar b'Tammuz. The fast begins in Allentown at 4:27 AM and ends at 9:17 PM.

One neither eats nor drinks, but - unlike the fasts of Tisha b'Av and Yom Kippur - one may wear leather shoes and wash normally.

(Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 550:2)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

The 17th of Tammuz

Hello,

The fast day of the 17th of Tammuz, observed Thursday July 9 this year, commemorates five tragedies:

1. Moses descended from meeting Gd and receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai, saw the Jews celebrating with the Golden Calf, and broke the two tablets Gd had given him.

2. The daily Tamid offering, which had been brought regularly in the Jerusalem Beit haMikdash [Temple] from the time the Jews built the Mishkan for over one thousand years, was halted during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem before the Beit haMikdash was destroyed.

3. The Romans invaded Jerusalem, prior to destroying the second Beit haMikdash. (The Babylonians invaded Jerusalem to destroy the first Temple on the 9th of Tammuz.)

4. A Greek or Roman official named Apostimos held a public burning of the Torah.

5. Idols were set up in the Temple itself; it is not clear what year this happened.

(Mishneh Berurah 549:2)

Be well,
Mordechai

The shivah minyan

Hi,

There is a mitzvah of praying in the morning and evening at the site where the deceased lived, even if there is no mourner.

(Rama, Code of Jewish Law Yoreh Deah 384:4)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Studying Torah during shivah

Hi,

A mourner is not permitted to study Torah during shivah.

However, if the mourner is a schoolteacher for children, and there is no replacement, then he should learn Torah in order to teach it, for this is a fundamental public need.

(Code of Jewish Law Yoreh Deah 384:1; Shach Yoreh Deah 384:1)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

When a mourner may wear leather shoes

Hi,

We have said that a mourner is not allowed to wear leather shoes during shivah. However, he may wear any other type of shoe.

Further: If a mourner is in a position in which a strong leather shoe is needed to protect him from harm, he may wear such a shoe.

(Code of Jewish Law Yoreh Deah 382:1, 3)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Housekeeping during shivah

Hi,

Although we say that a mourner is not supposed to engage in work or his/her job lest it distract from the shivah, a mourner is still permitted to take care of his home, such as in washing dishes and making beds, or cooking, as needed.

(Code of Jewish Law, Yoreh Deah 380:22)

Have a good day,
Mordechai