Weekly Newsletter Volume 5, Issue 19, Parshas Tetzaveh

March 8, 2025; 8 Adar, 5785 Sponsored anonymously for the Refuah Shleimah of Yair Nissan Ben Sara

QUESTION: Due the nature of my position, I am required to pick up all the phone calls that I receive (even the ones that my caller ID identifies as, “Scam Likely.”) Most of these calls are spam calls and waste my time. If I answer the spam caller and tell him that I am not interested in whatever he is selling, he is undeterred and just calls me back later with something else that I am not interested in. I do know, however, that these spam callers have buttons on their call consoles that they can press to quickly and efficiently place me on their “Do Not Call” list. However, when I ask to be placed on this list, I am often ignored. So here is my question...

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Weekly Newsletter Volume 5, Issue 18, Parshas Terumah

March 1, 2025; 1 Adar, 5785 Sponsored anonymously for the Refuah Shleimah of Yair Nissan Ben Sara

How does one become more honest? The answer is that one should practice acts of kindness (Chessed). In Tehillim 85:11 it states, “kindness and truth meet.” The Asher L’Shmuel in Shaar HaChessed (p. 168) writes that the simple explanation of this verse is that a direct repercussion of engaging in Chessed is the development of the quality of Emes. It is also interesting to note that people perceive those that are kind to be honest and trustworthy. In a Gallup poll (Dec. 2, 2022), a sample of people were surveyed regarding how much they trusted others in various professions. Participants had a chance to cast their votes for people in 18 different professions.)...

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Weekly Newsletter Volume 5, Issue 17, Parshas Mishpatim

February 22, 2025; 24 Shevat, 5785 Sponsored anonymously for the Refuah Shleimah of Yair Nissan Ben Sara

QUESTION: I work in the Bronx and coming back from the school where I work, I got into a car accident. I had a green light and was driving straight. The other driver, a gentile from the Bronx, failed to stop at his red light and drove into the path of my car. At first, the driver admitted that he was at fault and said he would pay for the damage. However, after a few moments, he changed his mind and said that I had been the one who had run the red light. Is there a prohibition for a gentile to lie? If there is, is it appropriate to try to convince the gentile driver to tell the truth, or is it better to just leave it to our respective insurance companies to straighten things out?...

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