Parshas Devarim: Rav Chaim Kanievsky - Taking Your Father-In-Law To Court
"UShifatitem Tzedek Bein Ish U'Bein Achiv U'Bein Geiro", you shall judge righteously between a man and his brother and his Ger (Devarim 1:16). In one pshat Rashi says that the word "Geiro" does not mean convert, but rather his opponent. The Sifri says that it means his father-in-law. Where does a father-in-law come into the picture and why does the Torah need to tell us this?
Rav Chaim Kanievsky answers that the Taz paskens (YD 241:2) that a son cannot take his father to court because it may cause his father to be cursed if he needs to swear. What the son should do suggests the Taz is to sell his claim to someone else who is halachicly fee and clear to sue his father.
Since the halacha is that when it comes to kavod, one is obligated to honor his father-in-law just like his father, you might think that you cannot sue your father-in-law either, therefore the Sifri tells us that unlike your father, you are free to litigate against your father-in-law and there is no problem of the issur klala.
A Russian Jew once struck up a conversation with his seatmate on a bus in Eretz Yisrael, and in the course of the conversation, described...read full story
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