ASK THE REBBE from the virtual desk of the OU Vebbe Rebbe Question: I am moving out of a rented apartment. Is it true that I have to leave the mezuzot? Answer: The gemara (Bava Metzia 102a) states that the renter of a house has the obligation to affix mezuzot, but when he leaves the house he may not remove them. There are two basic approaches in the early authorities regarding the reason. Tosafot (ad loc.) says that it is out of fear that leaving the house without mezuzot will cause danger to future inhabitants. The Sheiltot (126) assumes that the reason is that removing mezuzot from use disgraces them. One practical difference between the approaches is if one may remove mezuzot in order to promptly affix them in one’s new house (Sheiltot allows this; Tosafot forbids it). We usually assume like Tosafot, but if it will be difficult to find other mezuzot for his new apartment, one can rely on the opinion of the Sheiltot and transfer them (Pitchei Teshuva, Yoreh Deah 291:7). If one must leave the mezuzot, he can demand the value of simple mezuzot from the owner of the apartment (Rama, Yoreh Deah 291:20 - see Chovat Hadar 1:(51)). If one has a special mezuza which he wants to bring to his new home, he can replace it with a simple one which he will leave (and be reimbursed for) and put up the special one in his new home. One can certainly take the mezuzah cases. The above applies if one rents from a Jew. If he rents from a non-Jew, then he should remove the mezuzot (gemara, ibid.) to protect them from possible disgrace (Shita Mekubetzet, ad loc.). This being the reason, if the owner is a Jew, but one who would remove and not know how to respect the mezuzot, one should remove them. Similarly, even if the apartment is owned by a Jew, but the next tenant will be a non-Jew, there is no reason to leave them (Shita Mekubetzet, ibid.). If the home is owned by a non-Jew, then one does not need leave the mezuzot even if Jews are expected to rent the apartment (Pitchei Teshuva, ibid.:9). Finally, even if everyone is Jewish, but the new occupant of the home plans to switch the mezuzot, they may be removed (Chovat Hadar 1:(53)). “Ask the Rabbi” Q&A is part of Hemdat Yamim, the weekly parsha sheet published by Eretz Hemdah. You can read this section or the entire Hemdat Yamim at
www.ou.org or www.eretzhemdah.org. If you would like to receive Hemdat Yamim by email, on a weekly basis, please send an email to
lists@eretzhemdah.org with the message:JoinHemdatya - Please leave the subject blank. Awe and love are the wings of good deeds. [Perhaps that means AWE of G-d and LOVE of one's fellows - PC] When going before the final judgment, one is asked: Have you conducted your business in goodfaith? (Talmud, Shabbat 31a) What they are really asking is: In business negotiations, you do your best to increase your profit. Have you negotiated in good faith to strengthen and build your faith as well? REASON There is an indirect reference to this custom in T'hilim 81:17 (which is the Shir shel Yom of Rosh HaShana): VAYA'ACHILEIHU MICHEILEV CHITA MITZUR D'VASH ASBI'EKA, and they shall feed him the best of the wheat (i.e. the HaMotzi slice of challa) and with honey from the rock will I satisfy you. [* Ed. note: On our request for a SHANA TOVA U'M'TUKA, a good AND sweet year, the Kotzker Rebbe explains what "sweet" comes to add to "good". Everything that G-d does is good, but sometimes we are not personally happy with something that happens to us. SHANA TOVA - of course, a good year. Everything that G-d does is good. We ask for a sweet year, a year that we will feel is good for us.] Most piyutim (liturgical poems) belong to either Shacharit or Musaf. There is a custom, however, of saying L'KEIL ORECH DIN (To the G-d Who prepares man for judgment) in Shacharit on the first day of Rosh HaShana and in Musaf on the second day. REASON The Gemara mentions two opinions whether HaShem judges His creations during the first three hours of the day or the second three hours of the day. So we try to satisfy both views, by reciting this piyut in Shacharit one day and in Musaf the other day For all the Land that you see, I will give to you and your descendants forever. This was G-d's promise to Avraham Avinu. One of the conditions of our getting and keeping the Land is our remembering what Amalek did to us (and what it stands for). Destroying Amalek is one of the first tasks we had to attend to upon our taking over Eretz Yisrael. The pasuk commanding us to remember Amalek is a G'matriya Twin of the "promise pasuk" above (2999). ZACHOR EIT ASHER ASA L'CHA AMALEIK BADERECH B'TZEI'T'CHEM MIMITZRAYIM (D'varim 25:17) One of these conditions is that the captive weep for her father and mother for a full month. The Zohar compares this month to the month of Elul, which at first sight seems far-fetched. After all, the timing of the war is not here the critical point. However, notes Rabbi David Miller, the Sifre - alluding to a verse in Jeremiah in which pieces of wood are referred to as “my father” - prefers to describe this period of mourning as a month spent crying for lost idols. This explains the connection with the month of Elul, which likewise beckons us to reflect on idols that we have knowingly or unknowingly allowed to consume our thoughts during the year. Still, we might ask why the Torah allocates a whole month for contemplation when mourning usually lasts a week. Rabbi Miller explains that this mourning period is more than just a reflection on what has been lost. The captive girl basically has to eradicate an entire gamut of beliefs and habits built up since childhood. Thirty days of introspection is thus by no means excessive. And as Rosh Hashanah approaches, it seems that we too need a complete month to review our thoughts and attitudes in order to clear a path to true belief. Sincerely yours, Menachem Persoff, Director, Israel Center [The Ki Teitzei Homepage]
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