Weekly Thoughts

Our Sages Say

And he encountered the place (28:11) "The place" is Mount Moriah (the "Temple Mount" in Jerusalem, where Abraham had bound Isaac upon the altar and where King Solomon would erect the Holy Temple). (Rashi) ************* Why do we call G-d Hamakom, "The Place"? Said Rabbi Jose ben Chalafta: We do not know whether G-d is the place of His world or whether His world is His place. But when the verse (Exodus 33:21) states, "Behold, there is a place with Me," it follows that G-d is the place of His world, but His world is not His place. (Midrash Rabbah)

B"H. Shabbat Parashat Vayetzah ,10 th of Kislev 5773

And Jacob went out from Be'er Sheva, and he went to Charan (Genesis 28:10)

A Dwelling Place For G-D

The story of Jacob's journey to Charan is the story of every soul's descent to the physical world. The soul, too, leaves behind the spiritual idyll of Be'er Sheva (literally, "Well of the Seven" -- a reference to the supernal source of the seven divine attributes or serot from which the soul derives) and journeys to Charan (literally, "Wrath"): a place of lies, deceptions, struggle and hardship; a place in which material concerns consume one's days and nights, sapping one's energy, confusing one's priorities, and all but obscuring the purpose for which one has come there in the rst place.

Yet it is in Charan, in the employ of Laban the Deceiver, not in the Holy Land and its "tents of learning," that Jacob founds the nation of Israel. It is here that he marries and fathers eleven of the twelve sons who will become the twelve tribes of Israel. Had Jacob remained in the Holy Land, the life of this pious scholar who lived 3,500 years ago would have been of no signicance to us today.

The soul, too, achieves its enduring signicance only upon its descent into "Charan." Only as a physical being, invested within a physical body and inhabiting a physical environment, can it fulll the purpose of its creation, which is to build "a dwelling for G-d in the physical world."

Shabbat Shalom!

The Weekly Word

Dispute over Sales Price and Product Quality

Case:
The plaintiff (=pl) sold a large amount of oil and dried dates to a grocery store owner (=def). Def did not pay right away and after time refused to pay much of the bill for the following reasons. Def does not remember what price they had decided on for the oil and thinks that the amount demanded is too high. The dates became wormy over time. Def claims that he kept the dates properly refrigerated and blames pl for having transported the dates to him in an nonrefrigerated transport. Pl responded that other people to whom he sold dates in a similar manner did not have problems of infestation, and he therefore suspects that def did not store them properly.

Jacob... took the stone ... and set it as a monument; and he poured oil on its head (28:18) Monuments are built of stone. For a more monumental monument, one takes bigger and more substantial stones. What is the oil all about? But in order for the monument to be a house of G-d (as Jacob proclaimed, And this stone which I have set as a monument shall be the house of G-d), one requires oil. Oil is extracted from the olive only when it is trod upon and crushed. Oil thus represents a persons self-abnegation and submission to G-d. To walk away from Ebers house -- to walk away from fourteen years of indepth Torah study to begin dealing with the material world, as Jacob did with his move to Charan, requires a great deal of oil. Only one who has totally abnegated his own will to that of G-d's is capable of such sacrice.Torah classes! Join us all days of the week for a session of learning on any topic you wish - Gemara,Halacha Chassidut... For more Info call Rabbi Pinto 514 943-5770 Or RabbiMPinto@ Gmail.com

Ruling: Regarding the oil, who has the obligation to prove what price was set: the buyer or the seller? First, we should point out that we are talking about a case where neither sides suggested price is out of the range of reasonable. (If it were, then there could be an issue of onaah (mispricing), which could even nullify the sale.) If the two sides had each come with denite claims as to the agreed price, then the seller would have to prove that the higher price is correct before he would be able to extract additional payment. However, we are talking about a case where the plaintiff made a denite claim and the defendant is unsure. When a plaintiff says that he is sure the defendant borrowed money and the defendant says that he is not sure if he borrowed it, we rule that there is no payment without proof. Still, the defendant is required to swear that he is indeed unsure and has some level of moral obligation to pay (Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 75:9). If there were clearly a loan and the borrower is unsure if he paid it back, then because of the existing known obligation, the borrower has to pay (ibid.). Here, on one hand, it is clear that there was an obligation, but the question is how much the obligation was, and this ts into neither category cleanly.

The Shulchan Aruch (ibid. 18) says the following about a case where the defendant agrees that he is obligated but is not sure how much. Since he admits part of the claim, he is called a modeh bmiktzat and has to swear a Torah-level oath that he does not owe more than he admits to knowing about. Since he is unsure how much that amount is, we say that one who is obligated in an oath which he is not capable of taking has to pay the amount demanded. One of the explanations is as follows. The fact that there is an obligation to swear shows that without something to counteract the plaintiffs claim, the defendant would have to pay. Thus, in the case, where def is unable to swear and he cannot bring any other proof, there is nothing to prevent him from needing to pay. Therefore, def has to pay the full value claimed by pl for the oil.

Note:One Should NOT derive any Halachik Conclusions from the above