Tagged Questions
1
vote
1answer
51 views
Repentance for stealing not accepted?
I've heard before that there is a Gemorah in Baba Kamma (also brought down in Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat Hilchos Genevah) that one who steals something and later wishes to repent and return what ...
1
vote
0answers
34 views
Can I prevent trespass through (for example) my garden?
Does the Torah give me the right to stop other people using (for example) my garden as a short-cut between two places?
If I try to prevent this trespass, am I to be criticised (say for withholding ...
8
votes
3answers
89 views
Is there a concept in Jewish law similar to a corporation?
In modern law, a corporation, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is an "artificial person or legal entity created by or under the authority of the laws of a state or nation . . . ordinarily ...
5
votes
1answer
63 views
Is it permissible to embarrass a thief?
Here's a story I witnessed:
Someone trying to get his car out of the public parking lot next to his building found his way out blocked by two cars parked right on the ramp out, whose owners went into ...
5
votes
2answers
95 views
How is one allowed to live in Israel?
When Yehoshua came to Israel, he conquered it and divided it among the Jews. This land belongs to them and their descendants.
When the Jews were exiled many years later and came back (by the 2nd Beis ...
3
votes
1answer
71 views
Magazine not delivered - what are they responsible for?
If someone has a subscription to a Jewish weekly or magazine or newspaper (for example: Mishpacha, Binah, Ami, Jewish Press, Yated, Hamodia, etc.) and they are supposed to deliver on a specific day of ...
1
vote
0answers
41 views
Is Sephardi Chief Rabbi Sholomo Amar's recent psak on fiduciary responsibility really “unprecedented”?
HaAretz, last week, reported that Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar issued a halachic decision that "[b]usiness owners whose actions, either intentionally or through negligence, cause the public ...
5
votes
0answers
84 views
Is it halachically permissible to click on contextual ads with no intention of buying?
Contextual ads are those ads you see when you do a search on Google. The advertisers only pay if someone actually clicks on their ad. It seems "pashut" to me that clicking an ad if you know you're not ...
6
votes
2answers
111 views
Does the mitzvah to return a lost object apply to aveirah items?
I recently saw a flyer that quoted from R' Chaim Kanievsky, Shlita as saying that if one find a smartphone that is not "kosher" there is no mitzvah obligation to return it. Is this in fact the ...
4
votes
1answer
92 views
Who is responsible for damage to something that was used at the owner's request?
Suppose you ask someone to use something that belongs to you, so that you can benefit from their use of it. For example, you (voluntarily) give a camera to someone you know to take a picture (of ...
11
votes
1answer
166 views
Insurance against משיח
According to this rather amusing blog post, there is apparently a common clause in rental contracts in Jerusalem, called the Messiah clause, in which, when a landlord outside of Israel rents out a ...
7
votes
1answer
74 views
Is Dina D'Malchusa a din in Gavra or in Cheftza?
Let's say that Reuvain owes Shimon money in American law, and Dina Demalchusa applies, does that mean:
Reuvein has a halachic monetary obligation to Shimon which is as strong as any other ...
7
votes
1answer
132 views
Transfer of loan / mortgage from non-Jew to Jew
What happens if a Jew borrows money on interest from a non-Jew, and then the lender turns around and sells the debt to a Jew? (Such transactions are very common in the mortgage industry.) Is it ...
5
votes
0answers
68 views
Is it acceptable to use software which incidentally blocks ads?
A question on this site on whether ad-blocking software is permissible suggests that the answer is that it probably, but not definitely, is acceptable.
I don't use ad-blocking software myself, but I ...
8
votes
1answer
77 views
Animal rights vs other considerations in halacha and hashkafa
On a boat, Reuven owns five ostriches and one of them eats a diamond off of Shimon's hat which is on his head. Though we are not sure which one ate it we know with certainty that one of them did. ...
1
vote
1answer
133 views
What is the status of a library loan?
When you borrow something from the (secular) library does it follow the same halacha as a loan from one Jew to another?
6
votes
2answers
110 views
Do you have to pay if you damage someone in order to stop them from sinning?
There is a story in Brachos where R' Ada bar Ahava ripped a Karbalta (a red non-tznius garment) off a woman, and then discovered that she was not Jewish. He then was fined for that act 400 zuz. He ...
8
votes
1answer
95 views
Does one have to return the specific bills that one stole?
If one stole a hundred dollars in regular cash (e.g. no rare bill editions), and still has those bills, does he have to return those particular bills or can he return any hundred dollars?
6
votes
1answer
71 views
What is the Halachah if someone lost an object despite efforts to protect it?
If someone charged with guarding an object took protective precautions, but it nonetheless disappeared, what is the Halachah?
Let us assume they were not paid for their guardianship, nor were they ...
5
votes
2answers
208 views
Are robo-calls permitted?
A robo-call is an automated phone call that does not involve a human caller. The majority of these are uninvited solicitations (either for money or votes), and these are the ones I'm asking about. ...
4
votes
2answers
115 views
Handling Conflict between Jewish and Civil Law
This question is an offshoot from the one titled "Questions about Polygamy in Jewish Law and Culture"
Taking under the knowledge that the previous question was well answered with an observation:
It's ...
14
votes
3answers
309 views
Is ad-blocker software permissible?
Kalashnikover_Rebbe at hashkafah.com asks:
Isn't blocking ads stealing??? The people put them on the sites for a reason....
He elaborates:
On one hand the argument can be made that [forum ...
4
votes
2answers
100 views
In auctions today are you still obligated after being out-bid?
A mishna on Erchin 27a discusses buying land back after it has been consecrated. It says that if one offered ten selas, another twenty, etc. up to one who offered fifty, and then that last guy ...
7
votes
1answer
95 views
Product liability in halacha
What does Judaism say about product liability? That is, if I sell someone a product and — because it was manufactured
poorly or
not as advertised
— the purchaser sustains damage, to ...
12
votes
1answer
156 views
How much must one do to to sign a contract?
Nowadays most software comes with a EULA. In order to install the software one must click the "agree" button. However, there are some software that says are distributed through different licenses. For ...
14
votes
2answers
154 views
Does Jewish Law Recognize Bankruptcy?
If someone borrowed money and then declared bankruptcy, does he still have a halachic obligation to pay it back?
If the lender was a corporation (bank, etc.).
If the lender was a friend.
Do we say ...
4
votes
1answer
90 views
Using physical force to get past a passive blockader
Suppose that Billy wants to enter a building that he's legally entitled to enter, but Augustine places himself in front of the building's entrance in such a way that Billy cannot enter without coming ...
7
votes
2answers
127 views
Stealing from or causing damage to a third party to save life or limb
Suppose Fred is in danger of death or injury, and the most direct way to avoid that fate involves stealing or damaging property belonging to Ernie, an uninvolved person.
Examples:
Fred is being ...
6
votes
2answers
103 views
Self-defense (in a case of one's capital, not a capital case)
There is a well known rule that if A is threatening B's life, B may kill A, if necessary, to prevent that.
Is there any such rule in non-capital cases? Specifically:
If A is threatening B with ...
4
votes
1answer
52 views
A worker who did Shich'cha
If a worker forgot a sheave in a field, thereby making it Shich'cha (one of the gifts which the owner of the field must leave to the poor), does he have to pay back the owner?
1
vote
1answer
102 views
No one's ticket collected on the train: destroy?
This is a rolloff of this question: Train ticket not collected: destroy?
IF one is on a train that is too packed for any conductor to go on. Or it is a day where there is bad whether and the ...
15
votes
4answers
277 views
Train ticket not collected: destroy?
Assuming a train line where single-ride tickets are normally collected or cancelled manually by train crew circulating among seated passengers, and it is physically possible to use them later if they ...
3
votes
1answer
73 views
Is one allowed to sell a forged painting?
One makes an exact carbon-copy (perfect copy, in such a way that one will never be able to tell the difference between an original and a copy. For arguments sake, lets say through witchcraft) of (say) ...
5
votes
3answers
162 views
Is there any issue except for Dina Dmalchusa in counterfeiting money?
If someone were to find a way to make exact forgery of currency (in such a way that it would be impossible for anyone to find that it's counterfeit), would there be any prohibition to do so (except ...
6
votes
1answer
91 views
Diamonds in the coffee
A friend requests that you take a jar of Coffee to Israel and you happily oblige. On the way to your destination the jar cracks, so you just buy a replacement. Later you find out that the can ...
7
votes
1answer
80 views
The two stamp question
One man owns two of the only very expensive stamps in the world. Let us say each stamp was worth a million dollars. A second man comes along and destroys stamp one. The catch is that now according to ...
2
votes
1answer
61 views
Bread in the freezer
The title of the question is tongue in cheek. There was a very kind family that was away for the summer and allowed their home to be used by a second family. The second family got there and found the ...
6
votes
2answers
143 views
Is one allowed to cancel a check?
If I give a check to someone (as a gift) and I change my mind, am I halachically allowed to cancel it, or do we say that the check is a shtar, and by signing it is considered as if I gave him the ...
7
votes
1answer
80 views
Limits to Financial Dina Dmalchusa
What are the limits of Dina Dmalchusa (specifically financial Dina Dmalchusa, unlike this question which deals with non-financial dina dmalchusa)?
In general, dina dmalchusa means one must pay taxes ...
3
votes
1answer
84 views
How can one who contradicted witnesses use those witnesses later?
Case 1
Plaintiff Reuvein made a claim against Shimon that Shimon owes $100 to Reuvein through a loan.
Shimon said: "I never borrowed anything from you".
Reuvein brought two witnesses (Pair A) that ...
7
votes
1answer
159 views
Are kickbacks prohibited?
Would a person be allowed to give/take bribes to a person responsible for purchasing in a company? Would it be forbidden directly as "shochad" (bribery) or under a general prohibition of Gnevas Daas, ...
10
votes
4answers
313 views
“Is the market-based distribution of income fair or unfair?”
This post, by a leading economist, lists the main differences on economic policy between the right and left-leaning economists. On many economic issues, Judaism does not necessarily take a clear ...
7
votes
1answer
165 views
What Halachot apply to serving on jury duty?
Halachically, what are the responsibilities of one who is called to jury duty? What if one of the litigants is Jewish, and the halacha would find differently than civil law does in the case, are you ...
9
votes
2answers
202 views
Saving Parking Spots
Reuven calls Shimon to ask if Shimon may stand inside a parking spot and reserve it until Reuven gets there in five minutes. While standing there, Levi pulls up and directs Shimon to vacate the spot ...
4
votes
1answer
180 views
Following 'the spirit of the law' vs 'the letter of the law'
My question has several parts, and I'd love to hear your thoughts for all parts:
What are the responsibilities of a Jew regarding the following of laws in general?
Is it permissable to follow the ...
1
vote
1answer
26 views
Bittul and then Sale?
How is it that after we do Bedikah (checking for Chametz) and we are Mevatel (Making the Chometz Null and Void) the Chometz the Rav then goes and sells the Chometz to the Gentile we have alredy said ...
6
votes
3answers
213 views
Investing in Halacha
Does anyone know some halachik sources that discuss investing in stocks? There are many potential issues. For example, do you need to worry (about ribbis) if your money is used to lend with interest? ...
4
votes
1answer
90 views
Would the rabbis who prohibit all gambling and lotteries prohibit a no-lose lottery?
In a no-lose lottery, lots of people put money in a bank; all of them will get their money back whenever they want. Additionally, the bank takes the proceeds from investing their money and ...
1
vote
2answers
94 views
Overcharging or Undercharging (Ona'a)
The Halacha of Ona'a is that if an item was sold for more than 1/6 difference in real value the buyer and or seller can cancel the sale. How is Ona'a figured on for example fresh salmon? There are ...
2
votes
1answer
101 views
Byomo Titein Schoro - paying workers on time
You have a plumber, electrician, babysitter, etc. doing a job for you. There is a Mitzva of "Byomo Titein Schoro" paying in the same day. If you pay by check is it considered "Byomo Titein Schoro"?
