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Shabbat Parashat Ki Tavo 5777

Ki Tavo | 18 Elul 5777 | 09/09/2017

Parashat Hashavua: Writing on Stones – Then and Now

Bnei Yisrael were commanded that on the day that they were to cross the Jordan, they should erect large stones, coat them with lime and write on them “all the words of the Torah ba’er heitev (literally, explained well)” (Devarim 27:2-8). Some of our greatest minds have toiled to figure out what the exact meanings of these ideas are.

Ask the Rabbi: When to Cut the Challa?

Does one fulfill lechem mishneh if the bread is cut, or the matza is broken, prior to the completion of the beracha?

Ein Ayah: A Two-leveled Story

Rav Shmuel bar Nachmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: Whoever says that Reuven sinned (to the full extent ostensibly stated by the Torah, by sleeping with Yaakov’s concubine), is mistaken. This is indicated by the pasuk (following the mention of the ostensible sin): “The sons of Yaakov were twelve (in number)” (Bereishit 35:22). This teaches us that they were all equivalent one to the other. So what does it mean, “He slept with Bilha, the concubine of his father”? Because he “mixed up” his father’s bed, the Torah treats it as if he slept with Bilha.

P'ninat Mishpat: Was Work Properly Done?

The plaintiff (=pl) bought “on paper” an apartment in a yishuv from a contractor (=def). The contract spelled out payment and construction schedules, at the end of which pl was supposed to receive ownership. (In Yehuda and Shomron, the equivalent to ownership is called bar reshut, and it represents practical control under the auspices of a department of the Jewish Agency.) Toward the end of the building, pl was supposed to make the last payment (with the use of several post-dated checks), but they have refused to do so with the claim of problems with def’s work. Def now wants to cancel the sale due to lack of payment and with the claim that pl’s father’s tyrannical behavior has caused delays and infighting with other members of the building project. Pl refuses to cancel the purchase and says that def wants it because prices have since gone up.

We daven for a complete and speedy refuah for:

David Chaim ben Rassa

Lillian bat Fortune

Eliezer Yosef ben Chana Liba

Yehoshafat Yecheskel ben Milka

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

whose yahrtzeit

is the 10th of Iyar

Rav Reuven Aberman

z"l

who passed away

on 9 Tishrei, 5776

Mr. Shmuel Shemesh
who passed away on

Sivan 17, 5774

R' Eliyahu Carmel,

Rav Carmel's father,

who passed away on

8th of Iyar 5776

Mrs. Sara Wengrowsky

bat R’ Moshe Zev a”h.

who passed away on

10 Tamuz 5774

Rav Asher Wasserteil z"l

who passed away on

Kislev 9, 5769

R' Meir ben

Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld

o.b.m

R ' Yaakov ben Abraham & Aisha

and

Chana bat Yaish & Simcha

Sebbag, z"l

R' Yitzchak Eliezer

ben Avraham Mordechai

Jacobson a”h
on the occasion

of his yahrzeit, Elul 15

Rav Benzion Grossman

z"l

who passed away
23rd of Tamuz 5777

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).