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Shabbat Parashat Vayakhel Pikudei | 5770

Vayakhel | 27 Adar 5770 | 13/03/2010

Parashat Hashavuah: Nisan and the Absence of Water

The upcoming month of Nisan, which we read about in the special Maftir, is the beginning of the year from the perspective of months (Shemot 12:2). The Jewish New Year from a sun perspective is in Tishrei, especially in regard to its holiday of Sukkot, as we will explain. Let us contrast Nisan’s holiday of Pesach and Tishrei’s Sukkot, regarding water, the basic necessary building block of human life.

Ask the Rabbi: Beracha on schnitzel

I have heard people question what I thought was simple - that the beracha on schnitzel is Shehakol. What is the truth?

Ein Ayah: Levels of Disregard for Sanctity

If one goes in filthy streets, he should not recite Kri’at Shema, and furthermore, if he was in the midst [of Kri’at Shema], he must stop. If he did not stop, how is it [considered]? [Various Amoraim attribute various p’sukim to the situation]: 1) “For I have even given them statutes that are not good and laws by which they should not live” (Yechezkel 20:25); 2) “Woe, those who pull the sin by ropes of nothingness” (Yeshaya 5:18); 3) “For he degraded the word of Hashem” (Bamidbar 15:31).

P’ninat Mishpat: Conflicting Wills in Regard to a Home

A brother (=def) and a sister (=pl) dispute the rights to an apartment that was registered in the name of their deceased mother. Amigur (a subsidiary of the Jewish Agency) offered the mother (exclusively) to buy the apartment she lived in. She did not have enough money, so def paid for it. Def claims that since he had financial problems, he gave the money only with the understanding that he would receive the apartment after her death. Def also presented an old will and a full authorization and letter of intent, witnessed by a lawyer, for def to take over the apartment. Pl presented the most recent will in which the mother left the apartment for pl and an affidavit attesting that her previous giving of the apartment to def was extracted by trickery.

Hemdat HaDaf HaYomi: Disqualification of a Rasha from Testifying (24b-27b)

This week in the Daf Hayomi, the Gemara deals with different people who are disqualified from testifying. One type of person who is disqualified is a rasha (evil person). The Gemara gives several examples of prohibitions whose transgression would qualify one to be a rasha, and he would thus be disqualified from testifying. For some of the prohibitions, one is disqualified from the Torah, and for others, one is disqualified Rabbinically. The Rishonim disagree as to the general guidelines which can be derived from the Gemara

This week’s Hemdat Yamim is dedicated in loving memory of
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).

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