The Price You Have to Name

About This Talk

Mechirah 13 to 15 close the laws of ona'ah and open the laws of the sale made in error. Chapter 13 maps the edges of the sixth: barter of one article for another carries no ona'ah since a person may want the needle more than the necklace, while produce for produce does; a vague condition waiving ona'ah is void because the other side does not know what he forgoes, but an explicit figure binds; one who sells in a faithful manner, stating his cost and profit, is outside ona'ah, may not sell part of a lot at cost and part at value, and may add porters, donkey drivers and lodging but must name his own wages as profit; land, servants, promissory notes and consecrated property carry no ona'ah, derived from the words from the hand of your colleague, while livestock, pearls, a sword and a Torah scroll do; an agent who errs at all has his sale nullified, and the Rambam extends this to a guardian of orphans, while a court that errs is held to the sixth; brothers or partners dividing movables are buyers, standing below a sixth, returning the difference at an even sixth and undoing the division above it, and judges' appraisals off by a sixth are void; renting land and hiring a worker carry no ona'ah, renting a utensil or animal does since rental is a sale for a day, the field-sowing contractor is an unresolved doubt settled with a Rabbinic oath, and the Rambam rules that a weaving or tailoring contractor falls under ona'ah. Chapter 14 obliges the court to cap profit on staples like wine, oil and fine flour at a sixth but not on herbs and spices, allows only one profit on eggs, forbids trading in staples in Eretz Yisrael except oil where abundant, forbids hoarding purchased staples in Eretz Yisrael or a majority-Jewish place except one's own produce and the three years around the Sabbatical year, forbids storing even carobs in drought, likens the hoarder and price-raiser to a lender at interest, and bars exporting staples; townspeople may fix prices and penalties and craftsmen may make agreements, but where a distinguished sage guides the city their stipulation needs his consent and anyone who caused a loss without it pays. It then extends ona'ah to words: reminding a penitent of his past, a convert's descendant of his ancestors, mocking a convert who comes to learn, speaking to the bereaved like Job's friends, misdirecting donkey drivers, quizzing a man on what he never studied; wronging a convert breaks three prohibitions, and verbal ona'ah is graver than financial since it cannot be repaid and touches the person, which is why the verse adds and you shall fear your God, and the one who cries out is answered at once. Chapter 15 makes any error in measure, weight or count reversible forever, as with 101 nuts for 100, even after a kinyan declaring nothing owed; lets a hidden blemish return a sale years later unless the item was used after discovery; does not price the blemish, so a flaw worth an isar on ten dinarim allows return, and a buyer who wants a discount must accept the seller's choice of full price or refund; defines blemish by local custom; voids a blanket no-return condition unless the buyer accepts a stated loss; rules that listing obvious and hidden blemishes is a sale in error when the obvious ones prove false, but not once one obvious one proved true; and applies this to a seller who calls an item worth a zuz, before closing on which flaws in a servant justify return.