OPINION & COMMENT

It is Not Just Politics

Eighteen months ago as soon as the exit polls predicted the sizable victory of Ehud Barak and the Left, thousands and thousands of people streamed to Rabin Square in Tel Aviv to celebrate. Speakers and entertainers came. The show lasted for hours, climaxed by the appearance of Ehud Barak who proclaimed, "A new dawn has broken." He was greeted with persistent chants of: "Anyone but Shas."

Ensuring An Honest Judgment:
A Shmuess For Parshas Mishpotim
By HaRav Sholom Schwadron zt'l

The Torah writes, (Shemos 23:6), "Don't pervert the judgment of your pauper in his quarrel," on which the Mechilta comments, "Your pauper," means a pauper in mitzvos. Don't say, `Since he is an evildoer, I will pervert his judgment' . . . "

The Struggle for Shmittah Observance This Year:
Jewish Produce, the Heter Mechirah, Sefichim and Geuloh
By HaRav Yosef Yekusiel Efrati

The first part of this article discussed the fact that the origin of the heter mechira was closely followed and applauded (and at least to some extent encouraged) by the maskilim of the late nineteenth century, who wanted to ensure that shmittah would not be observed.

The Liberating Servitude
by Yochonon Dovid