Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- P'ninat Mishpat
Case: The plaintiff (=pl) ran group tours that, one Shabbat, used the defendant’s guesthouse (=def). Over Shabbat, pl felt bites but assumed they were from mosquitoes. When the symptoms recurred at home and she discussed the matter with group members and def, she figured out that she brought bedbugs home from def, from which the above were also suffering. Def sent an exterminator to pl’s house, but their one-time treatment did not help def (it helped other group members). Def entered a grueling three-month extermination regimen, which solved their problem. Pl ended up throwing out all of their bedroom furniture. Pl is suing for: the value of the discarded furniture (30,000 shekels); expenses of massive washing and drying of fabrics, including damage to the washer and dryer (7,000 shekels); buying new temporary (out of fear of recurrence) furniture (15,000 shekels); distress (10,000 shekels). Def responded that it was possible that someone in the group brought the bedbugs to def (they did not have problems before and did have afterward). Def argued that they were not at all negligent and paid for an exterminator for all involved beyond the letter of the law. (Def has insurance for the claims but relinquished their rights to them by adjudicating in beit din instead of secular court.)
Ruling: Last time we saw that we should hold def responsible to the extent that insurance companies are expected and usually agree to pay claims against their clients.
P'ninat Mishpat (835)
Various Rabbis
541 - “Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite” – part I
542 - “Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite” – part II
543 - “Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite” – part III
Load More
The two sides agreed that beit din could learn about bedbug infestation from an article on the Dept. of the Environment website (expert witnesses are expensive). Bedbugs only move from place to place at night, and they do not usually move from building to building but from room to room within a building.
Let us investigate what apparently transpired. The two rooms that were affected on the Shabbat in question were not attached and both were open to the outside. The people affected spent only one night in the same building and did not spend other time together in a manner that bedbugs could have been passed from one to another. No one had experienced bedbugs before their stay in the guesthouse. Therefore, the likely explanation is that the bedbugs entered the rooms from the outside at a similar time, and that the guesthouse was thus the source of people’s infestation.
Next time we will look whether def was at fault, whether that makes a difference, and how to estimate proper compensation.
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: Agricultural Water Rights – part II
based on ruling 84122 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Unsuccessful Transfer of Yeshiva – part V
based on appeal ruling 82138 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
