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Shabbat Parashat Chayei Sara 5781

Chayei Sarah | 27 Cheshavan 5781 | 14/11/2020

Parashat Hashavua: On Clouds and Mist

The cloud that hovered over the tent of Sarah appears in the midrash in our parasha as well. On the pasuk telling that Yitzchak brought Rivka into the tent of his mother, Sarah, the midrash says: “All of the days that Sarah was alive, there was a cloud hovering by the opening of her tent. Once she died, the cloud ceased, and once Rivka came, the cloud returned” (Bereishit Rabba 60:16).

Ask the Rabbi: Backing Out of an Oral Offer to a Potential Worker

I needed work done on my house – only part of the job acutely. I contacted Reuven, who came recommended; he quoted a high price. Because of the acute need, I agreed without shopping around. When he said he could only come a week later, I found Shimon to do the first part of the job. (It is not clear to me if Reuven now expects to do the rest of the job.). Shimon told me that Reuven charged much too much and offered to do the remaining part for half of Reuven’s quote. Do I have a halachic or moral obligation to use Reuven?

Ein Ayah: Spiritual Liberty

[It is forbidden to trap a bird in a house if] we are speaking about a “free bird” (tzippor dror), as it does not accept dominion, for it lives in a house the way it lives in the field.

P'ninat Mishpat: Compensating for a Governmentally Destroyed House – part II

The plaintiff (=pl) built a private house in a yishuv (=def), with def’s financial assistance. Due to political considerations, authorities indicated they planned to destroy this and some other houses. Pl argues that def must compensate them (3,000 NIS per square meter plus a new plot to build on) for the following reasons: Def committed to paying all of the families whose houses would be destroyed; def forced pl to not publicly protest the demolition, which prevented pl from obtaining broad support. Def counters that they never promised but only hoped that they would be able to compensate; it has proven beyond def’s means. Also, since pl openly threatened fighting the enforcement of the court order, which settlement experts said would jeopardize support for def, and def had to take pl to beit din and thereafter still complicated matters with some level of protest, they do not deserve compensation. Even if their peers, who followed the rules, get some compensation (mainly from a donor), pl should not.

Chayei Sara 5781
Microsoft Word Document

Chayei Sara 5781

We daven for a complete and speedy refuah for:

Nir Rephael ben Rachel Bracha
Rivka Reena bat Gruna Natna

Vicki Victoria bat Daisy

Yishai ben Tamar

Meira bat Esther

Orit bat Sarah

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
Iyar 10 5771

Rav Reuven Aberman z"l

Tishrei 9 5776

Mr. Shmuel Shemesh z"l
Sivan 17 5774

Mr. Moshe Wasserzug z"l

Tishrei 20 5781

R' Eliyahu Carmel z"l

Rav Carmel's father

Iyar 8 5776

Mrs. Sara Wengrowsky

bat R’ Moshe Zev a”h.

Tamuz 10 5774

Rav Asher Wasserteil z"l

Kislev 9 5769

R' Meir ben

Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld z"l

Mrs. Sara Brachfeld z"l

Tevet 16 5780

R' Yaakov ben Abraham & Aisha

and

Chana bat Yaish & Simcha

Sebbag, z"l

Rav Yisrael Rozen z"l
Cheshvan 13 5778

Rav Benzion Grossman z"l
Tamuz 23 5777

Rav Moshe Zvi (Milton)

Polin z"l

Tamuz 19 5778

R' Abraham Klein z"l

Iyar 18 5779

Mrs. Gita Klein z"l

4 Av

Mr. George Weinstein,

Gershon ben Yehudah Mayer

lover of the Jewish Nation, Torah and Land.

Tamar Lichtenshdat z"l

May her memory be a blessing

Jack Levin z"l
Chaim Yaakov ben Shlomo Yitzchak HaLevi
by his family

Hemdat Yamim
is endowed by Les & Ethel Sutker
of Chicago, Illinois
in loving memory of
Max and Mary Sutker

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).