Mishpetei Erets Responsa (Volume I)

Mishpetei Erets Responsa

Responsa in Matters of

Labor Law | Theft | Torts | Copyrighting

Chaim Yoel Bloch

Daniel Katz

Ido Rechnitz

The following participated in the writing of the Responsa:

Ofra 5771-2011

contents

Foreword / Rabbi Avraham Giesser................................... 11

Preface..................................................................................... 13

Answering Questions of Monetary Law

Without Hearing Both Parties ............................................. 17

Labor Law ..................................................................... 23

Definition of an Employee and the Payment of His

Salary ...................................................................................... 29

Payment for Work Done Without Prior

Arrangement.......................................................................... 70

Employee Rights and Employee Protection Laws ........... 77

Employees Who Cause Harm or Are Harmed ................. 95

Dismissal and Resignation................................................. 101

Business Competition – Infringing on One’s Fellow’s

Trade ..................................................................................... 121

Truth and Lies in Labor Relations .................................... 127

Mediation and Brokerage Fees.......................................... 145

Theft............................................................................. 155

Matters of Theft and Deception ........................................ 159

Use of Stolen Property........................................................ 182

Payment for Benefits Received.......................................... 189

Using Items Belonging to Others That Are

Customarily Used

Without Asking Permission .............................................. 196

Seizure of Property ............................................................. 204

Repentance After Theft ...................................................... 213

Defrauding State Institutions ............................................ 227

Copyrighting .............................................................. 239

Copying for Personal Use .................................................. 245

Copying for Commercial Use............................................ 257

Protecting Copyrighting Rights on the Internet ............. 262

Copying an Item After Purchase ...................................... 271

Torts ............................................................................. 275

The Prohibition of Causing Harm .................................... 279

Tort Liabilities...................................................................... 289

Tort Payments...................................................................... 306

Legal Status of the Local Custom........................... 319

Regarding the Sources.............................................. 341

Subject Index.............................................................. 349

Source Index ............................................................... 363

Foreword

(Psalm 147, 19-20)

In these verses, the poet of Psalms lays the foundations necessary for understanding the legal structure existing in the Torah of Israel. This structure is built upon three separate levels: “words,” “statutes” and “laws.” He reveals His “words,” reveals His “statutes” and reveals His “laws.”

 The laws are based on the words and statutes of GOD, and in this manner, and only in this manner, may a just and complete legal structure be erected.

 To be sure, magnificent and brilliant legal structures may be erected, but necessity demands that they be built upon certain presumptions. Should these presumptions and precepts turn out to be mistaken, it would follow that the related legal structures could be said to have been built floating in mid air. Another point to be raised here is that these precepts and presumptions all exist within the realms of opinions and beliefs, and not within the realm of law. For this reason, the Torah of Israel finds it necessary to set down the “words” and “statutes” in order to create a foundation and base for a just legal structure. As the Torah itself describes this process – “What great nation is there, that has statutes and laws so just as all this law, which I set before you this day?” (Deuteronomy 4:8).

 For the sake of establishing our rights over our legacy of land, the Torah finds it necessary to state: “The power of His works He has declared to His nation, in giving them the heritage of the nations” (Psalm 111:6), which means that without recognizing creation itself we would be unaware of the rightness of our legacy. In a similar vein, for the sake of establishing our laws we must declare the words and statutes of GOD, which precede all other laws. This is why the Torah states: “He has not done this for any other nation” – what has He not done? Is there any shortage of “laws” among the nations? Are there no law scholars and no widespread legal philosophy amongst the nations? Undoubtedly there are. However, these still remain “laws [that] they do not know.” Their laws do not recognize the “words” and the “statutes” upon which our laws are founded. The laws of the nations have different underpinnings than the laws of Israel, central to which is: the fear and awe of Heaven. “The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the LORD’s judgments are true, altogether righteous” (Psalm 19:10).

 In this first volume of “Mishpetei Eretz Responsa,” we present a group of concise, principled legal responses to social and financial issues in the fields of law, the marketplace and employees, theft and ownership, copywriting and the law of torts. It is a matter of great importance that the included legal discussions are based on real life situations, rather than coming in the form of abstract and theoretical legal discussions. The advantage of the halachic responsum is that it constitutes halacha lema’ase – a clear ruling based on a real life situation, which cannot remain in the vague realm of abstract learning alone.

 “To the contrary – when deciding in a matter of real life situations, one reaches down to the heart of the matter, much more than is typical by way of learning, and also Divine Providence assists during these deciding moments … as the Torah and instruction that develops while answering questions for practical purposes is clearer, and is closer to the truth, vis-à-vis that which emerges at a time of abstract learning” (Netziv, Responsa Meshiv Davar 1:24).

 We congratulate the Responders, the Rabbis, the Fellows, the Editors and the Researchers of the Mishpetei Eretz Institute. Equally worthy of blessing are our partners in the labor of researching the laws of the Torah at the Eretz Chemda institutions.

 May the King who is desirous of law and justice bestow his light and truth upon us, and upon the whole house of Israel, so as to establish and build up a state of justice and faithfulness.

Rabbi Avraham Giesser

Chairman of the Board of the Mishpetei Eretz Institute

and Rabbi of Ofra