Words From Rabbi White

Most of us by now are doubly vaccinated. Yet many of the doubly vaccinated still take wise precautions, for they know that it is still possible to be infected.

And that brings to mind the following: several years ago, when I was visiting my son and family, they gave me an interesting present, a sefer, by Rabbi Zilbershtein of Israel called ve-ha`arev na’. The author goes over the Torah, parasha by parasha, and deals with a contemporary halakhic problem that somehow relates to each parashah.

In this week’s lectionary, we read of a person ha-yarei’ ve-rakh ha-leivav, who is afraid to go to war. Our story took place back in 2009, when Hamas rockets were falling daily on the cities of southern Israel (so what’s new?!!) A resident of one of the cities (let’s call him Shimon,) even though his house was fortified with all of the most up to date fortifications, nevertheless felt it would be safer to move his family tentatively to relatives in the north.

Meanwhile, a neighbour of Shimon’s (let’s call him Reuven) did not have a house with all of the protection offered by Shimon’s house. So, Reuven decided to move his family into Shimon’s safer, now empty house. In an age when not everyone had a cell phone, Reuven was not able to contact his friend Shimon to ask permission.

Eventually, the barrage of missiles calmed down, and Shimon returned to his home in the south. The question: is Reuven obligated to pay retroactive rent to Shimon?

After referring to several sources from Talmud and Shulhan Arukh, Rav Zilbershtein came to the conclusion that Reuven was not obligated to pay rent. One interesting precedent that the Rav brings was that during WWI, when many communities in Eastern Europe were abandoned by their occupants, who were fleeing foreign armies, a prominent Romanian Rav ruled that a person who occupies a house that was temporarily abandoned need not pay the owner rent.

 To the contrary, Shimon should be happy that Reuven was watching the house. The only items that should be reimbursed were expenses for water and electric.

And indeed, had Shimon been asked for permission, he would have been obligated to agree, based on the verse in Vayiqra “do not stand idly beside your brother’s blood.”

We pray that the month of Elul should usher in a period free from illness, and that there should be peace in Israel.     

Shabbat shalom