One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
הִלְכוֹת מְכִירָה
Sales 4-6
Sefer Kinyan · Containers, measures and the price • Barter and kinyan chalifin • Coins, debts and promissory notes
3
Fingerbreadths of cloth the
seller must hold in chalifin
0
Witnesses needed
to finalize a kinyan
25
Silver dinarim for one gold:
gold counts as produce
3
People standing together
transfer a debt by word
Mechirah 4Containers, Measures and the Price
- Your containers acquire for you. Wherever you may place them, goods poured in are yours. Not in the public domain or the seller's domain, unless he says acquire with it. The seller's containers never acquire for you, even in your home. (4:1-4)
- Which kinyan where. Mesirah in the public domain or a courtyard owned by neither; meshichah in an alley or a shared courtyard; lifting anywhere. Pull part of it out of the public domain and it is yours. (4:5-6)
- Measuring. In the buyer's domain, produce is his once the seller agrees. In the seller's measures he may retract to the last se'ah, unless he priced each se'ah. A full neutral measure acquires; so does each marking. (4:7-12)
- Price first, then lift. Lifting before the price is set acquires nothing, unless the item has a standard price. (4:13-15)
- Taken to inspect. Fixed-price utensils lifted with intent to buy are the taker's responsibility, unless the seller was eager to be rid of them. An agent may acquire for you. (4:16-17)
RememberThe same lift that acquires after the price is set acquires nothing before it.
Mechirah 5Barter and Kinyan Chalifin
- Barter binds. Pull or lift what you receive, and the other side owns what he receives, wherever it is. Trading one for two requires pulling both. (5:1-2)
- Uncounted coins. A handful of coins scooped without counting acquires like goods. (5:3-4)
- The utensil. The buyer hands the seller a utensil of his own, even worth less than a p'rutah; not produce, a coin or a forbidden item. When the seller lifts it, the buyer acquires land or movables. (5:5-8)
- No witnesses needed. Any kinyan stands without witnesses. After chalifin, either side may retract while still discussing the matter. (5:9-10)
- Words are not a thing. Where no kinyan is needed, one only shows resolve. A kinyan on a commitment to travel or form a partnership is of no consequence. (5:11-14)
RememberA worthless handkerchief sells a house; a formal kinyan on a promise sells nothing.
Mechirah 6Coins, Debts and Promissory Notes
- Coins and chalifin. A coin can neither effect chalifin nor be acquired by it. Bullion trades like any goods. (6:1-3)
- Which coin is produce. Give gold for silver and the silver is yours at once; give silver for gold and nothing is final until you take the gold. Copper for silver likewise. (6:4-6)
- Coins not in hand. Acquired only with land or by renting their place; a debt, the Rambam rules, cannot be acquired with land. (6:7)
- Three standing together. When lender, borrower and recipient stand together and the lender directs payment, the recipient acquires; a rule with no stated reason. (6:8-9)
- Promissory notes. Transferred by writing acquire it and its obligations and handing it over, a rabbinic institution; the seller can still waive the debt. (6:10-14)
RememberPaper is only proof, and proof cannot be grasped by the hand.