One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
הִלְכוֹת מְכִירָה
Sales 7-9
Sefer Kinyan · Retracting before meshichah • The unpaid balance • Hekdesh, orphans and festival meat
1
Zuz left unpaid can keep
a field unsold
10
Zuz promised to hekdesh
binds, though worth 100
2 of 3
Judges suffice when the price
is set by a court of three
4
Festival eves when one dinar
binds the butcher
Ch 7A Curse, a Mark, a Word
- Mi shepara. Money paid without meshichah does not acquire, but whoever retracts, buyer or seller, even after a deposit, is cursed in court: may the One who punished the flood, the dispersion, Sodom and the Egyptians punish one who does not keep his word. Then the money is returned. (7:1-2)
- Who holds the risk. If the buyer retracted, the money is an entrusted object with the seller. If the seller retracted, it stays his responsibility until he has received the adjuration. (7:3)
- Debt, collateral, mark. Selling for an existing debt counts as payment, and land sold for a debt is final. Collateral completes nothing and brings no curse. A mark made in the seller’s presence brings the curse, and binds where that is the custom. (7:4-7)
- The bare word. Retracting from a verbal deal brings no curse, but the person is faithless and the Sages are not pleased with him. The same for a small promised gift, not a large one. (7:8-9)
- The agent who buys for himself. The purchase stands, but he is a man of deceit, unless the seller would sell only to him or the chance would be lost, and he must tell his principal. The Rambam rejects the claim that he took the principal’s money as a loan. (7:10-12)
- Three senders. Mixed money gives all three a share. One partner’s sealed purse, if used, makes the purchase his. (7:13-14)
RememberMoney without a pull is not a sale. It is a promise, and promises have their own court.
Ch 8The Seller Who Keeps Asking
- The last zuz. A seller who keeps pressing for the balance, even one zuz, has not transferred the field, despite a deed or possession. The one who retracts has the lower hand: the seller gives the worst land, or the buyer takes the best. No pressing, and the balance is a debt. (8:1-2)
- Selling poor land. One who sold because the field was poor completes the sale even while pressing. Movables follow the same rules. (8:3-4)
- Worth 100, sold for 200. With pressing, it is unresolved. Neither may retract, and land the seller seized for the balance is not taken back. (8:5)
- Payment errors. A shortfall is made up, even years later, and the sale stands. (8:6)
- “If I sell.” A kinyan saying it is yours from now for 100 binds a later sale at 100, but a sale at a higher price goes to the second buyer. A price set by a court of three needs two; “as three say” needs all three; no second appraisal. (8:7-8)
RememberA seller who keeps asking for the last zuz is telling you he has not let go.
Ch 9Where the Sages Step Aside
- A word to the Most High. Telling the Temple treasurer ten zuz for an item worth 100 is final, like delivery to an ordinary person. (9:1)
- The treasury’s upper hand. When prices move, hekdesh may keep or withdraw from the sale, whichever favors it. Its treasurer never receives the curse. (9:2)
- Orphans. They share the treasury’s advantage, adjusted so that buyers will still pay them in advance and sellers will still extend them credit. (9:3-6)
- Festival meat. On the eves of Shemini Atzeret, Pesach, Shavuot and Rosh HaShanah, money acquires. A butcher who took one dinar must slaughter, and if the steer dies first, the buyer bears the loss. (9:7)
RememberTo Heaven, saying is giving. For orphans, the law leans toward whoever needs it.