Paying for Damages Caused While Intoxicated / Adapted from an article by Dayan Mordechai Lichtenstein, Bet HaVa’ad, Yerushalayim Last year, our Purim celebration was exceptionally joyful. All of us were having a great time, the singing and dancing was lively, the Divre Torah were uplifting, the food was exquisite, and the wine – was flowing. One of our guests, Yaakov, was … [Read more...]

The Propriety of Taking an Oath in Bet Din according to Halacha1 Introduction The name of Hashem, as we would expect, must be used very carefully. Due to its great sanctity and holiness, there are rules and limitations as to when and how it may be used. One might surmise that it should also be prohibited to take an oath using the name of Hashem. The Rambam (Sefer … [Read more...]

Is one allowed to lure his competition’s customers away? By Dayan Shlomo Cohen, Badatz Ahavat Shalom, Yerushalayim not given up on his song, and remains the Halachic owner as explained above. The case of the fisherman discussed in the previous article in this series presents a tremendous challenge to the Jewish businessman as far as competition is concerned. To briefly … [Read more...]

Can a big chain-store set up shop while driving the little guys out of business?  By Dayan Shlomo Cohen Many questions arise in the cutthroat world of business as to what form of competition is ethical or morally acceptable, and what is not. The Torah gives us guidelines (as explained in two previous articles on this subject) which can be applied to many common business … [Read more...]

By Dayan Shlomo Cohen Previously… In our previous article, we identified four levels of benefitting from the efforts of another: 1. Grabbing a unique find before the person who spotted it is not immoral according to all opinions. 2. Acquiring a unique item before another prospective buyer is immoral according to Rashi but not according Rabbenu Tam. 3. Acquiring a … [Read more...]