Saturday, July 7, 2018

halacha - Insurance against משיח


According to this rather amusing blog post, there is apparently a common clause in rental contracts in Jerusalem, called the Messiah clause, in which, when a landlord outside of Israel rents out a property in Jerusalem, should משיח arrive while the renter is living in the property, either the lease is canceled and the renter must move out (to allow the landlord to return to Zion and have a place to live), or the renter must move into a spare room to allow the landlord to move in.


In one such case as told in the blog post, a prospective renter did not want to sign the contract with the clause in it, so his lawyer suggested taking out an insurance policy to pay out enough money to provide the renter the ability to find a new home should משיח come while he was under the lease.



My question is, would such an insurance policy violate the principle of believing in the coming of the Messiah? Would it be acceptable for the purchaser of the policy (because they are not assuming it won't happen, and they are, in fact, literally preparing for his arrival) but not for the seller of the policy (because the seller is essentially betting that משיח won't come, or else he will have to pay out the policy coverage amount and stop collecting the premiums)?




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