Torah Down Under

The Sheiltos in this week’s sedrah talks about the issur of profiteering from food. There are two halachos that relate to not making excessive profit from food: You cannot make more than 1/6th profit on food. You cannot hoard food in Eretz Yisroel in order to sell it later at a higher price. Excessive Profit Regarding excessive profit the gemara says in בבא מציעא דף מ': והאמר שמואל 'המשתכר אל ישתכר יותר על שתות' Shmuel said – a merchant should not make a profit more than 1/6th. Hoarding Regarding hoarding food in Eretz Yisroel, the gemara in Bava Basra (90b) says: תנו רבנן אוצרי פירות ומלוי ברבית ומקטיני איפה ומפקיעי שערים עליהן הכתוב אומר (עמוס ח) "לֵאמֹר מָתַי יַעֲבֹר הַחֹדֶשׁ וְנַשְׁבִּירָה שֶּׁבֶר וְהַשַּׁבָּת וְנִפְתְּחָה-בָּר לְהַקְטִין אֵיפָה וּלְהַגְדִּיל שֶׁקֶל וּלְעַוֵּת מֹאזְנֵי מִרְמָה" וכתיב (עמוס ח) "נִשְׁבַּע ה' בִּגְאוֹן יַעֲקֹב אִם-אֶשְׁכַּח לָנֶצַח כָּל-מַעֲשֵׂיהֶם" “The Beraisoh has taught; People who hoard grain...

Two נסים happened during Chanuka, one was the victory of the Chashmonim over the Greeks, the other was the נס of the oil. There are three things that we do on Chanuka to thank Hashem for these nisim: - We light the menora - We say al hanisim in Shemona Esrei and - We say hallel Are these all for both nisim or are they specific to one nes? The Emek Beracha points out that when the gemara in Shabbos (כ״א עמוד ב') explains what Chanuka is, it does not mention the nes of the victory: מאי חנוכה … שכשנכנסו יוונים להיכל טמאו כל השמנים שבהיכל וכשגברה מלכות בית חשמונאי ונצחום בדקו ולא מצאו אלא פך אחד של שמן שהיה מונח בחותמו של כהן גדול ולא היה בו אלא להדליק יום אחד נעשה בו נס והדליקו ממנו שמונה ימים לשנה אחרת קבעום ועשאום ימים טובים בהלל והודאה “What is chanuka? …when the Greeks entered the heichal they made the oil tameh and when the Chashmonoim defeated them they searched and could only find one jug of oil that had the seal of the kohen gadol. This jug only contained enough...

In this weeks sedrah we learn about the brothers kidnapping Yosef and selling him. It seems (see piyut of asarah harugei malchus – Yom Kippur Mussaf) that the brothers were חייב מיתה for doing this; as the possuk says in Mishpatim: וְגֹנֵב אִישׁ וּמְכָרוֹ וְנִמְצָא בְיָדוֹ מוֹת יוּמָת “If someone kidnaps a man and sells him and he is found in his hand then the kidnapper will die.” There is a discussion in the rishonim what the words וְנִמְצָא בְיָדוֹ mean: Rashi asks, if the captive is sold then how can he still be in the hand of the kidnapper? Rashi explains that the possuk means that the captive was in the hand of the kidnapper before he sold him; ונמצא בידו - כבר קודם מכירה “He was in his hand - before he sold him.” The Ramban asks that, according to Rashi, these words do not tell you anything? Of course you need עדים that the kidnapper held the captive before selling him otherwise you could not execute the kidnapper? ולא הבינותי זה - אם ללמד שיראוהו עדים בידו קודם...