Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- P'ninat Mishpat
Case: Reuven promised his creditors that he would pay when Hashem will "widen his boundaries" (i.e., when he will be financially more secure). The creditors now claim that if Reuven has 50 gold coins, then he has reached that level. They base themselves on the sefer Kol Yehuda, who cites the gemara (Chulin 84a). The gemara comments on the pasuk, "When Hashem will widen your boundaries … and you will say ‘I shall eat meat,’ as your spirit will desire to eat meat" (Devarim 12:20), that there should be a correlation between the amount of money one has and how he eats. Specifically, it says that when one has 50maneh he can allow himself to eat meat, which thus corresponds to the situation of "when Hashem will widen your boundaries..."
Ruling: I do not like this type of ruling, which bases itself on an aggadicstatement of Chazal. Furthermore, does it make sense that the amount of coins one needs to be considered financially secure is not affected by the value of the local currency? It is clear that the dayan who is ruling on the case has to estimate the point of the widening of the boundaries based on his good sense.
P'ninat Mishpat (835)
Various Rabbis
351 - A Split Majority
352 - When Is The Debtor Rich Enough to Pay?
353 - A Woman who Relinquished Rights to her Ketuba
Load More
[The Noda B’Yehuda now goes into a mathematical calculation of different currencies of the time of the gemara and of his time in Europe, and tries to work out the equivalent of 100 maneh in terms of his time and place. It came out to much more than the 50 gold coins that the creditors were claiming]. It turns out that the source that the creditors thought would help them actually harms their case. However, I still maintain that the determination of when it is considered that Reuven has enough money to pay has to be made by the dayanim based on the circumstances and their good sense, not by means of a source-based calculation.
Various Rabbis
Various Rabbis including those of of Yeshivat Bet El, such as Rabbi Chaim Katz, Rabbi Binyamin Bamberger and Rabbi Yitzchak Greenblat and others.
Moreshet Shaul Moreshet Shaul: A Crown and its Scepter – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 294-5
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Did Any Furniture Go to the Buyer? – part II
based on ruling 84093 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: A Contractor’s Leaving the Job in the Middle – part I
based on ruling 84013 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Agricultural Water Rights – part I
based on ruling 84122 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Various Events FOR WHOM NOT TO VOTE
Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook stressed that Israeli politics is G-dly, so I have no problem answering this common question on a Torani blog. Also, Free-Will is a G-d-given right and obligation, to "destine one's fate" (R. Soloveichik, Kol Dodi Dofek, 67), so I obviously don't tell others how to vote. But once not a few (especially young) have already asked, a couple of personal words from experience and thoughts from chazal & Rav Kook which may be of help to others, mainly for whom NOT to vote.
P'ninat Mishpat Fallout from Failure to Install Elevator – part II
based on ruling 85007 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
