Disaster in Haiti
Given the magnitude of the destruction and suffering in Haiti, we should pause a moment from our daily matters and hope the aid workers can still save as many lives as possible.
Coincidentally, this week the daf yomi project is passing a number of mishnas which deal with earthquakes, and how inheritances are divided when buildings fall on families and it's not possible to know which family member died first, thus notionally bequeathing their property to other family members who also died. The legal issue could have been demonstrated with other scenarios, of course (what happens when families die in a war and we don't know details, for example). Yet earthquakes have always been with us and always will, so they're an easily recognizable tag for the more abstract "What happens when simultaneous sudden death strikes?"
Bava Batra 157-158
Coincidentally, this week the daf yomi project is passing a number of mishnas which deal with earthquakes, and how inheritances are divided when buildings fall on families and it's not possible to know which family member died first, thus notionally bequeathing their property to other family members who also died. The legal issue could have been demonstrated with other scenarios, of course (what happens when families die in a war and we don't know details, for example). Yet earthquakes have always been with us and always will, so they're an easily recognizable tag for the more abstract "What happens when simultaneous sudden death strikes?"
Bava Batra 157-158
Originally posted by Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
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