Celebration of Quarters for Yemenite Community

Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: #162

With a rejoicing of the heart and thanks, I received your pleasant invitation to the celebration of the cornerstone placing for the houses for our brothers, the Yemenite workers. You know how close this wonderful matter is to my heart and how happy I was when this approached fruition. You also know how much I wanted to be present at your holy celebration and take part in its joyousness – a happiness of mitzva. I am greatly disappointed that the eye disease that has attacked me in the last few days prevents my fulfilling my desire. Therefore, I am compelled to make due with expressing my warm blessing in writing for our celebration.

Disagreement on Length of Rental Commitment – part I

The defendant (=def), which provides communal medical services, has been renting part of the building of the plaintiff (=pl), an educational institution, for over 20 years. There have been various rental contracts (=rc) for different lengths of time; the last one, written in 2012, includes a clause enabling pl to remove def with one month’s notice. Since then, some draft contracts were exchanged (including, in 2016, rejected by def), and the sides continued the rental based on general oral agreements, with some rent increases. In May 2022, pl told def to vacate their rental area by October because pl expanded their operations and needed the space themselves; def refused to leave. One solution raised was for the two sides to use the area at different hours, but def claimed it was illegal to do so. Def requested a restraining order to prevent pl from moving in. Def argues that only one agreement includes the clause of early removal of def, and it is illogical for such a complicated operation as a medical provider to relocate in a month. Rather, that contract was just a formalistic piece of paper (copied from a standard contract), that did not represent the parties’ essential agreement, as many of its provisions were ignored by the sides.