Mishnah
Mishnah

Mesorat%20hashas for Bava Metzia 4:9

אֵלּוּ דְבָרִים שֶׁאֵין לָהֶם אוֹנָאָה. הָעֲבָדִים, וְהַשְּׁטָרוֹת, וְהַקַּרְקָעוֹת, וְהַהֶקְדֵּשׁוֹת. אֵין לָהֶן לֹא תַשְׁלוּמֵי כֶפֶל וְלֹא תַשְׁלוּמֵי אַרְבָּעָה וַחֲמִשָּׁה, שׁוֹמֵר חִנָּם אֵינוֹ נִשְׁבָּע, וְנוֹשֵׂא שָׂכָר אֵינוֹ מְשַׁלֵּם. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, קָדָשִׁים שֶׁהוּא חַיָּב בְּאַחֲרָיוּתָן, יֵשׁ לָהֶן אוֹנָאָה, וְשֶׁאֵינוֹ חַיָּב בְּאַחֲרָיוּתָן, אֵין לָהֶן אוֹנָאָה. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, אַף הַמּוֹכֵר סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, בְּהֵמָה וּמַרְגָּלִית, אֵין לָהֶם אוֹנָאָה. אָמְרוּ לוֹ, לֹא אָמְרוּ אֶלָּא אֶת אֵלּוּ:

These are things in respect to which ona'ah does not obtain: bondsmen, bills, lands, and hekdeshoth (consecrated property), [it being written (Leviticus 25:14): "And if you sell a selling to your fellow, or acquire from the hand of your fellow" — to exclude lands which are not movable, and to exclude bondsmen, who are likened to land. Bills — it being written: "And if you sell a selling," something whose substance is bought and sold — to exclude bills, which serve only as corroboration. Hekdeshoth — (Ibid.): "You shall not wrong one man, his brother" — his brother, and not hekdesh.] Kefel payment does not obtain with them, it being written in respect to a watcher's claiming (falsely) that it (what had been entrusted with him) had been stolen (Exodus 22:8): "For every thing of violation" — general; "for an ox, for an ass, etc." — specific; "for every lost object" — a reversion to the general. We have here an instance of "general-specific-general," in which the ruling follows the nature of the specific, viz.: Just as the specific is explicitly something movable and of intrinsic monetary value, so all (for kefel liability) must be movable and of intrinsic monetary value: to exclude lands, which are not movable; to exclude bondsmen, which are likened to land; to exclude bills, which, although they are movable, are not of intrinsic monetary value. Hekdeshoth — Scripture states (Ibid.): "his neighbor," and not hekdesh.] And four and five payment does not obtain with them [if one stole and slaughtered or sold an ox or lamb of hekdesh, Scripture mandating "four and five" payment, and not three for a sheep and four for an ox. For since they are excluded from kefel, they are reduced by one, kefel in an instance of slaughtering or selling being included in the four and five payment.] An unpaid watcher does not swear (to absolve himself of payment for the above), and a hired watcher does not pay (for them if they were lost or stolen), [it being written (Exodus 22:9): "If a man give to his neighbor" — general; "an ass or an ox or a lamb" — specific; "or any beast to watch" — a reversion to the general. We have here an instance of "general-specific-general," in which the ruling follows the nature of the specific, viz.: Just as the specific is explicitly something movable, etc. Hekdeshoth — Scripture states (Ibid.): "his neighbor," and not hekdesh.] R. Shimon says: With kodshim (consecrated animals) for which one must make restoration, [as when he said: "It is upon me to bring a burnt-offering," and he separated it, and it sustained a blemish, and he sold it], ona'ah obtains. [For since if it died or it were stolen, he must make restoration, it is considered his and is subsumed in: "And you shall not wrong, one man, his brother."] And (with kodshim) for which one must not make restoration, [as when he said: "This is (a burnt-offering)"], ona'ah does not obtain. R. Yehudah says: Ona'ah also does not obtain with one who sells a Torah scroll, [it having no delimited value], a pearl, and a beast. [For one desires to match them. If he has a good plow-ox, he looks for one like it to team it with under the yoke. For if he teams a weak ox with a strong one, he harms the latter. And so with a fine pearl, (he desires) to set it with its mate in the gold of the yechidith (a type of ornament).] They said to him: They specified only these (the foregoing, as not subject to ona'ah). [The halachah is neither in accordance with R. Yehudah nor with R. Shimon.]

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