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Reuven owned a home, which was rented out to Shimon for two years, and during this time Reuven gave it to his daughter Sarah as a dowry. A year later, Sarah appointed Levi to sell the home. Levi told Shimon that he was going to sell it, and Shimon did not act immediately, but his wife said soon after its sale that they were interested in buying the home they were renting for themselves. The question is whether the law of bar metzra, whereby one who has a natural connection, usually as a neighbor, to property that was just sold can compel the property’s buyer to transfer it to the bar metzra at the same sale price.
In this case, there are several doubts as to whether the law of bar metzra applies. One is the opinion of Rabbeinu Tam that it applies to fields but not to homes. Another doubt is whether one whose connection to the property is that he is renting it is a beneficiary of the law. Yet another question is how long the renter has to offer to buy the field.
In general, we should point out that the law of bar metzra is a rabbinical innovation to give special rights to allow one with a connection to the property to acquire it. While the Rabbis attached to this law the pasuk of "you should do the good and the straight in the eyes of Hashem" (Devarim 6:18), that is not a halachically binding source. Therefore, in cases of doubt, we should not employ this rule when it is not clearly mandated, thereby uprooting the Torah-level law that the buyer has attained ownership of the property and cannot be forced to give it up. On the other hand, if the community accepted this law with a cherem (a ban), the efficacy of the cherem is like that of Torah law, and out of doubt one should not take the action of expelling the renter from the home to which he is entitled in abrogation of the cherem.
Furthermore, the efficacy of the kinyan (act of sale) that the buyer made is questionable because at the time of the sale, the renter still had the right to live there until the end of the rental period. In a case, then, that the sale can take effect only after time, it is not clear that the transaction was valid, even though the rental period will end by itself at the end of a defined period.
P'ninat Mishpat (834)
Various Rabbis
263 - Divorce After a Non-Halachic Wedding
264 - The Law of Bar Metzra
265 - Inheritance of a Rabbinical Position
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P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: A Contractor’s Leaving the Job in the Middle – part I
based on ruling 84013 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Did Any Furniture Go to the Buyer? – part I
based on ruling 84093 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Sharing in Plumbing Expenses – part I
based on ruling 85013 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
