HaRav Yishai Natan - My friend wanted to buy a barbecue grill that was on sale at Home Depot. Since he has a small car and I have a pickup truck, he asked whether I would be going there soon. I told him that I would be nearby the next day, so he asked me to buy the grill and bring it to his house. I agreed. I purchased the grill with my credit card and placed it in the back … [Read more...]
LENDING WITHOUT WITNESSES
HaRav Yishai Natan - Last week, I lent my friend $2,000. I thought I was performing a great mitzvah by helping him when he needed money. However, when I told my brother what I had done, he said that it may have been closer to an averah than a mitzvah. He claimed that a person is not allowed to lend money without witnesses. I told him that I had never heard of such a rule. … [Read more...]
LOST ARCADE CARD
HaRav Yishai Natan - I was at the arcades yesterday with my eight-year-old son. We were waiting at a racing game for another little Jewish boy to finish playing. When he got up, we noticed that he had forgotten his play card on the machine. I knew it was his because I remembered seeing him place it on the machine before he sat down. I looked around to see if I could find … [Read more...]
I WAS JUST JOKING
HaRav Yishai Natan - I run a barber shop that usually closes at 5:00. Today, someone came in close to closing time and asked for a haircut that normally takes twenty minutes. I wanted to go home already, so I told him, “I’m sorry, it is too close to closing.” He said, “I’ll give you $200 if you do it now.” I agreed and gave him the haircut. Afterward, he said he was … [Read more...]
Neighbor’s Fallen Tree
HaRav Yishai Natan - My neighbor has an old tree on his property that looked like it was going to fall any day. I told him that he should cut it down, because it might fall and break something. He never cut it down, and yesterday it fell into my property and destroyed my deck. I told him that now he has to pay for my deck and remove his tree from my property. He thinks he … [Read more...]