העורך Editor

I recently saw a bumper sticker announcing: היכונו למערכה לקיום מצוות התלויות במקדש

The contact details were missing, as I recall. Does anyone know what this might be about?

I quote from the Business Halacha Institute:

An elderly gentleman spends the final years of his life in a nursing home. In his will, which was drafted shortly before his death, he left a significant bequest to a member of the staff that cared for him during his final days. His family was, naturally quite upset, and suspected that the staff member had abused their position of power and influence over the increasingly feeble patient. What are the Halachic factors involved in asserting claims of undue influence?

…

What emerges is that undue influence is a very weak halachic argument. In contrast, there are very significant legal protections concerning undue influence, and it is a very prominent aspect of many will contests. The reason for this disparity of treatment arises from the very basis of choshen mishpat versus civil law. Civil law incorporates values- to the extent that it seems unfair to allow a person with a position of power to wield that power for their personal benefit over those that are helpless to resist, civil law creates limits and protections to prevent such scenarios. In contrast, Choshen Mishpat focuses on strict rights and obligations, without incorporating outside factors and considerations. While there is certainly a concept of acting Lifnim Meshuras Hadin that requires us to act in a fair and equitable manner, the actual halachos that define people’s rights are narrowly constructed. The parties, and to a limited extent Bais Din, should add these yashrus considerations to their behaviors, but the fundamental rights and obligations are generally unchanged by the ethical considerations. (emphasis mine)

I could not put it better myself (which is why I quoted them).

Remember those fishmongers selling live fish? Now everyone has refrigeration, and the fish is packaged or at least hidden behind glass displays. But it is important to know why they used to have those noisy electric fans with frills attached. There exist (black and green) flies which haunt fish chicken and meat, especially during summer time. The flies inject their sperm into the flesh, which in a matter of hours gets worms.

Either that or my friend is pulling a prank on me…

Bottom line: Never leave raw fish or meat outside of the fridge unattended.

Update: I found out these “meat flies” (not this, I think) are already mentioned in Darkei Moshe Y.D. 86:187.

נשאל הרב בן ציון וואזנר כדלהלן:

נסתפק האם הוא חייב כסף לתחבורה הציבורית, כגון שכח לשלם, האם ניתן לשלם בכרטיסיה או דוקא בסכום מלא? ומה הדין אם השתנה מאז התעריף, כגון ב”ערך צבור”? (א”ה, השאלה קוצרה)

– מתוך העיתונות