When does a husband writing all his assets over to his wife result in a full gift and when does it result in her appointment as steward over all his assets? • When a woman is gifted all of her husband's assets, when and why is she at risk of losing the entire estate? • When a husband creates a partnership, endowing his wife with a share among his c…

From which assets does the firstborn receive a double portion? • From which assets does a widower inherit from his wife?

How was the land of Israel inherited? • Grace, an antidote to resentment

How do we know that a man inherits his mother? • Dayo, limiting the extension of a Kal Vachomer (a fortiori) • A messy controversy: Does a mother bequeath to her children equally, or to her sons before daughters? • Does a mother ever bequeath a double portion? How do we know that a man inherits his wife? • Is the husband's inheritance Biblical or R…

If you were an ox, how could you develop an appreciation for the glamourless cattle prod? • Discerning decisive truth among conflicting theoretical truths

When selling an unmeasured field, when is the estimated yet imprecise parcel size binding on both parties, and when are adjustments needed? • Do the same parameters apply to larger transactions? • Price gouging on real property • When adjustments are warranted, when is the purchase price increased and when is part of the property returned to the se…

When should the blessing borei peri hagafen be recited over wine dreg extract? • What types of wine should not be used for libations but may be used for kiddush, consecration of the hallowed day?

Bava Kama 50

When is it permissible to repurpose and maintain a faulty measure? • Limits on altering measures and currency values • Limits on profit margins • No intervention can be more effective than a calculated intervention towards maintaining lower prices in the longer term • Restrictions on exports of basic necessities when supply is tight help maintain l…

The Talmudic debate about what King Solomon sought, yet was denied • Man's potential and the Messianic era

When selling a group of trees, when is the land between them included? • Four types of transactions: When can the Seller, Buyer, neither or both back out?

King Solomon, master of learning and sharing wisdom, was fueled by relentless drive • When is self-promotion appropriate?

What type of Kinyan, symbolic act, can effect the transfer of a boat, or an animal, or a prommisory note?

When selling a field, what is included and what is excluded?

Navigating ambiguities of real estate contracts

The tragic dissolution of man • Look critically at the opportunity costs of following every impulse and desire

A detailed examination of the process by which a non-Jew sells his real property to a Jew • Dina d'Malchusa Dina; when do governmental regulations override the defaults of Jewish law? • Laws pertaining to two adjacent fields owned by the same owner

Death: the temporary divergence between body and soul • What happens to the body and soul after death? • Resurrection is by Divine invitation to ascend from the grave

Why is a sale binding when there are elements of coersion exerted upon the seller? • Willingness comingled with coersion in bringing a sacrifice or granting a bill of divorce • What happens when the groom forces the bride to accept his proposal?

Remember God while articulate, and of sound mind • King Solomon guides the nation in sweeping terms to serve God in a state of cohesive vigor, before malaise and societal decay set in • If we had listened to God, Nevuchadnezzar would not have been goaded to destroy the temple

Establishment of possession requires a rightful claim • The squatter's mindset • Mistaken forgiveness • Consensus within contradictory testimony • What circumstances would invalidate the establishment of presumed possession?

Don't delay teshuva; at advanced age, a person might block out their recollection of their misdeeds, preventing adequate remorse • How to tell if someone has a share in the world to come • Is it important to be missed? How to be a wise servantand avoid putting off doing teshuva

From how far away does does a tree take up nutrients? • If a tree is planted near a neighbor's property is the tree owner stealing, and may first fruits be brought? • If branches from a neighboring tree overhang into your property, how much may you chop?

How does King Solomon view retirement? • It is common to be easily stirred from sleep as the slumber of death approaches • What is the significance of decreased musical sensitivity as we age?

What objects can constitute a barrier that prevents ritual impurity spreading from one house to another through a shared window? • Must one bury a stillborn? • Distancing a mill from a wall owned by a neighbor • When one neighbor takes steps to establish property usage that would curtail his neighbor's usage rights if firmly established by preceden…

Equitable division of complex property • May one partner force the dissolution of a partnership, and if so, how? • When and why is a master required to free his slave? • When are mutually agreeable partners nonetheless barred from dividing their property?

Confronting systemic decline begins with awareness • Realistic assessment of one's weaknesses should inform the challenges one engages • Appreciate and utilize fleeting gifts • Dietary recommendations shift as we age

Is a dubious claim given credence if a more credible lie could have been crafted? • Above and beyond: when is one required to pay for a full half of a taller than necessary wall built by his neighbor? • The versatility of conveyed property easements • What facets of a property may be utilitzed by a tenant of a room in a large house? • The time to e…

If a rented second story is damaged, when may the upstairs tenant move in downstairs with the landlord? • How do the Rambam and Rosh differ in their respective approaches to an unresolved question between Landlord and Tenant? • Who is responsible for repairing a leak that runs from the upper floor and damages the lower floor? • Does the right to bu…

Adjudicating ambiguous lease agreements • Chazaka, established possession does not confer "squatter rights" • Do creditor rights to foreclosure include property improvements made subsequent to the lien? • The Torah obligation to pay employees in a timely manner • The rabbinic obligation to pay beyond the biblical time frame…

Landlord rights • Borrower rights • Primacy of established custom • When is a tenant entitled to a reduction in rent?

What liabilities apply to atypical borrowings? • What core facets of a borrowing transaction are required to generate the Torah's default liabilities upon borrowers? • Ba'alim Imo: exemptions from liabilities when the lender is employed by the borrower • Could a rabbinic court be liable for an inadvertent embezzlement of consecrated properties brou…

Workers' rights to eat from produce they are cultivating • The Torah prohibits muzzling an ox while he is threshing; what are the implications of Man's shared identity with other creatures? • Strategies for employers and employees to enhance their respective profits • By fixing terms of consumption with his employer, the employee's baseline rights …

When a lender takes collateral for a loan, what liabilities does he become responsible for? • When may a lender rent out the collateral to reduce the principal of the loan without permission?

Commodity loans • Permitted pseudo-interest loans between Torah scholars • Pseudo-interest loans between family members can lead to usury • One may not pay interest even with mere words • To avoid stumbling, witnesses and documentation of a loan protect both lender and borrower • Remaining in a locale with sustained hardships instead of moving away…

May a lender enjoy an undermarket lease granted by the borrower? • A secured loan gives the lender the status of Bar Metzra, with the first right of refusal upon sale of the collateral • A passive investor with security on the principal must offer additional compensation to his borrower/business partner beyond simple profit-sharing to avoid the pro…

What are the implications of Man's waning resilience? • Mortality is a process • Each stage of life presents unique opportunities

Prohibited forms of usury • Stealing money with noble intentions • Prohibited deceptive practices • You won't eat bugs and you'll be happy • Inherited usury • Your own life comes first

How is Chomesh, an additional charge for the owner's redemption of his second tithe, calculated; is it 20% or 25% of the principle value? • Assymetric bidding wars for redeeming consecrated assets • When can Chomesh be charged on a prior Chomesh assessment?

The bill is coming, or is it? Rav Mordechai Elefant's formative experience • Strategies to remember your Creator in youth • The Steipler explains that by abandoning God, a person is engulfed in a spirit of impurity which leads him to embrace outlandish folly

Can one effect a barter transaction with money, or only engage in a sale transaction with money? • Transactions with grey market money • When can the transfer of money be utilized to effect a transaction without the purchaser also doing Meshicha, drawing the acquisition towards himself? Who provides the token object to effect a Chalipin exchange, t…

Claiming an inheritance as a long lost brother • Wicked mice have block parties • Healthy profit margins • Buyers and sellers negotiate

Divine glory is strikingly manifest on earth through His wondrous salvation of His people in the merit of deep focused Torah study, integration of Torah enlightenment in our lives, and supporting Torah • By observing His wondrous protection of Israel, those engaging in violence, defamatory rhetoric, and disingenuous vengeful posturing are encourage…

Preventing harmful human strife takes priority over reducing animal distress • How should one prioritize the returning of objects lost by oneself, by one's rebbe, and by one's father? • What should one prioritize in Torah study? • The culpability for sins committed willfully yet in ignorance is less than the culpability for issuing erroneous ruling…

Laws pertaining to a lost object hidden in a wall • Finding an object in an Airbnb • Mordechai 258 silver plated tin: sold or found?

When should a lost bill of divorce, bill of emancipation, will, promissory note, or documented gift be returned to the beneficiaries?

What causes Amalek to agitate against Israel, and what causes them to escalate their aggression to violent attacks?

Acquisitions of movable property through one's courtyard • When does a lost object picked up by one's son, daughter, slave, or wife become the property of the father, master, or husband?

Is one who is willing to steal also presumed willing to swear falsely?

A hero's compensation • A peaceful lion and Rav Safra's donkey • A failed hero's compensation • Standing up against bandits: How are the salvaged items divided? • A moser (informant) must pay for having caused his friend financial loss