245 - המצווה הרמ"ה - הציווי שנצטווינו בדין מקח וממכר

The 245th Mitzvah

1. The commandment by which we were commanded concerning the law of buying and selling—that is, the methods by which a purchase and sale take effect between sellers and buyers.

2. They learned about this procedure from His statement, may He be exalted: "וכי תמכרו ממכר לעמיתך וגו'" ("When you sell something to your fellow [or buy from your fellow's hand]…," Vayikra 25:14). They said: "דבר הנקנה מיד ליד" ("an item that is acquired from hand to hand")—that is, by pulling (meshichah).

3. It has already been established that by Torah law, money effects the acquisition, and pulling (meshichah) for movable property is only a Rabbinic enactment; the same is true of handing over (mesirah) and lifting (hagbahah).

4. They said explicitly: "כדרך שתיקנו משיכה בלוקחין כך תיקנו משיכה בשומרין" ("Just as they instituted pulling for buyers, so they instituted pulling for custodians").

5. Thus it has been explained to you that requiring pulling for buying and selling is an enactment, as explained in its place.

6. But the other methods by which land and other property are acquired—namely, a deed (shtar) and taking possession (chazakah)—they based on verses.

7. The laws of this matter—that is, the methods by which a purchase takes effect for each kind of property—have already been explained in the first chapter of Kiddushin; the fourth and eighth chapters of Bava Metzia; and the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Bava Basra.