Dear Shaare Family,
This week, we read Parshat Mishpatim, the Torah portion that contains the sources for many laws of Jewish jurisprudence, and the basis for many of the tractates in the order of Nezikin, or damages. Laws governing torts, charging interest, returning lost objects and the running of Jewish courts are all found in this week’s parshah. This week’s Hakarat Hatov goes to young Shaare members Mordechai Weiss, Joe Schwartz and Sam Rael, the members of the Yavneh Moot Beit Din team, for bringing me on board in a consulting role for their presentation, which they are preparing under the guidance of Rabbi Yaakov Tannenbaum. The case they have been given deals with the complicated interplay between healthy vs. predatory competition, the need for individuals to earn an income and the role a free market, benefitting the customer, plays in Jewish law. In my probbeh (try out) Shabbos in Dallas in January 2015, I delivered a shiur on this subject, based on a case that I worked on when I was a member of the staff of the Beth Din of America. The Beth Din has published a number of their rulings , of which this case was the second (all identifying details have been changed).
Rabbi’s Recommendations
My dear friend (and past Shaare Tefilla scholar in residence) Prof. Michael Avi Helfand of Pepperdine University School of Law (and guest lecturer at Yale Law School) is one of today’s experts on the legal intersection between law and religion, religious freedom and how it relates to Jewish communal interest in particular. This week, he was interviewed on the 18Forty Podcast , hosted by Rabbi Dr. David Bashevkin (another Shaare guest speaker, virtually, during deep COVID). I recommend everyone listen to Dr. Helfand’s erudite, lucid and entertaining explanation of many of these issues. I also recommend that you listen to the 18Forty podcast in general, as Rabbi Bashevkin has many really fascinating guests speaking about important, and often uncomfortable subjects (note: Rabbi Bashevkin often begins his episodes with lengthy introductions that can be quite interesting; if you want to hear just the interview, the episode notes indicate when the interview begins).
Mystery Shul Of The Week
