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Beit Midrash
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[For the last two years, we have been presenting historical dinei Torah, as found in responsa literature. We now return to our beit din’s files to explore contemporary cases that we have adjudicated.]
Case: The plaintiff (=pl) bought an i-Phone abroad, spending 2,800 shekels. After a few months, the owner damaged the phone’s display. He took it to the defendant (=def), a cellphone repair lab. When plreceived it back from def, the phone did not work at all. Pl took the phone to the importer, who determined that a piece connected to the screen was missing. Pl then sent it to the US, where someone fixed the screen for $125. Now, though, one cannot hear the person to whom he is speaking. Pl is demanding 2,800 shekels for the no-longer-viable phone, plus 550 shekels for money wasted trying to fix it. (Def did not charge pl for their attempted repair.) Def acknowledges it is possible that they lost a piece from the screen, but claims that regarding the hearing problem, it is just as likely that one of the others who tried to fix it damaged it. Def also says that pl’s numbers are exaggerated. A working used phone of this model costs appr. 1,200 shekels; the phone in question, which is salvageable is worth appr. 800 shekels. An imported new phone now costs 2,000 shekels. In court, def offered, for the first time, to pay 2,000 shekels, or to give a new phone of this type and receive the broken phone. Pl refused the offer.
P'ninat Mishpat (829)
Various Rabbis
395 - Compensating a Cellphone Owner for Damage Caused During a Repair Attempt
396 - Compensating a Cellphone Owner for Damage Caused During a Repair Attempt
397 - Returning a Loan That Might Have Had Heter Iska – Part I
Load More
Ruling: The Rambam (Chovel 7:15, based on Bava Kama 11a) states that when one damages his counterpart’s object, he has to pay the difference between its value right before and after the damage. In this case, the starting value of the phone was not 2,800 shekels but the price of a used, partially damaged phone, and the finishing value is that of a more severely damaged phone.
Sometimes, there is logic for the damager to pay for fixing the object rather than just pay for depreciation. The Chazon Ish (Bava Kama 6:3) says that this applies to objects that are not slated to be sold but to be fixed. It certainly, though, does not make sense to charge both for the value of the phone and for the expense of fixing it. In any case, since the price to fully fix the phone is unknown, it is feasible only to estimate the damage to it. As such, def is not obligated in the 550 shekels.
It does not make sense to have an expert give his appraisal of the price depreciation because the cost of the expert is unjustified in a case with a relatively small amount of money to be determined. Readily available information indicates that second hand i-Phones in good working order cost 1,200-1,500 shekels. We estimate that the depreciation due to the mistake def likely made is 700 shekels.
However, this seems to be unnecessary because in beit din, defoffered to give pl enough money to buy a new phone if he gets to keep the old one. Considering that we have rejected the full scope of pl’s claim, there is no logic for pl to reject this offer, enabling him to have a phone that is no worse than what his old one would have been after proper fixing.
Because def did not make any such offers to pl before coming to beit din, def has to reimburse pl for the beit din fee.
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Late and Flawed Apartment
based on ruling 82174 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Dividing Parents’ Resources when Mother Still Alive
based on ruling 82017 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
