Bava Metzia 108b — the Talmud in English

And if not,

if that field which he sold him in the midst of his fields resembles the other fields surrounding it, we are concerned that the purchaser

is acting deceitfully,

and intends initially to purchase the field situated between the seller’s fields, so that he will be the one who is called a bordering neighbor with regard to the seller’s other fields, and afterward will purchase the other lands by the law of the bordering neighbor, causing the first bordering neighbors to lose them. Therefore, immediately now we remove him from the field. One who gives his fellow a field as a

gift does not have the law of the bordering neighbor apply to it,

and the bordering neighbors cannot compel the recipient to sell it to them.

Ameimar said: If he wrote him

the giver of the gift

a guarantee,

and undertook to the recipient that if creditors were to collect the field from him, he would give him another one, we are concerned that in truth he sold it to him and is acting deceitfully by writing a deed of gift; therefore

the law of the bordering neighbor applies to it.

If he sold

the owner of the field

all his property to

one purchaser

alone,

and among the properties there were also fields adjoining another person’s boundary, who likewise wished to purchase that field adjoining him, while the purchaser was interested in purchasing specifically all the properties together, and if he would not receive all of them he would not purchase even part of them,

the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it.

For the Sages did not institute that the purchaser should do what is upright and good with the bordering neighbor, allowing him to purchase the field adjoining his field, where this would cause a loss to the owner of the field. If he sold the field adjoining a bordering neighbor’s field

to the original owners

of that field,

the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it .

If he purchased,

a purchaser acquired a field adjoining his fellow’s boundary

from a gentile,

the bordering neighbor cannot demand that he sell it to him by the law of the bordering neighbor,

and

likewise

if he sold,

a person selling land adjoining an Israelite’s boundary

to a gentile, the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it.

And now he explains the reason:

If he purchased from a gentile

a field adjoining an Israelite’s boundary, the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it, because

he says to him

the purchaser says to the bordering neighbor: “I did you a favor by this, for I purchased the field from the gentile, since

I drove away a lion from your boundary” ,

If he sold to a gentile,

the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it, because the law “you shall do what is upright and good” was not said with regard to the seller, and he is permitted to sell even to one who is not a bordering neighbor, since if he wishes, he may not sell it at all. And that

gentile

who purchased it

is certainly not subject to “you shall do what is upright and good.”

Nevertheless, the Sages said: Since through selling the field to a gentile damage may be caused to the Israelite adjoining the boundary,

“I will place him under a ban,”

to excommunicate him,

we certainly place him under a ban

him,

the seller,

until he accepts upon himself all the harms that come upon him

the Israelite

on account of him,

on account of the gentile.

One who lends to his fellow and takes from him land that will be

a mortgage,

a pledge in his possession against the debt, if the lender wishes to purchase the land immediately from the borrower, he is permitted . And even though that field has bordering neighbors,

the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it,

for Rav Ashi said: The elders of the city of Meḥasya said to me:

a place name

what

is the meaning of

“mortgage”? —

That a neighborhood is with him!

For the lender becomes like a neighbor of that land. And necessarily,

what practical difference

is there in this being called a “neighbor,”

for the law of the bordering neighbor,

that he takes precedence over every person, like a bordering neighbor.

And if the seller wished

to sell

one of his fields situated

in a

place

distant

from his other fields,

and

with the money that he would receive for it he could

redeem,

purchase another field

in a

place

closer

by more.

And likewise, one who sells a field

because of its

ego

poor

quality,

and

with the money that he would receive in exchange for it he could

redeem it with a good one,

since he needs the money,

the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it,

but whoever precedes and purchases it acquires it.

For the Sages did not institute that one should wait until the bordering neighbor brings money and purchases the field, for perhaps by the time he brings his money, the nearby land or the good field which the seller wished to purchase will already have been sold. And they said that one must do what is upright and good only where there is no loss to the seller.

And likewise, if the seller needs money in order

to

pay

the land tax,

a tax to the king, and for this purpose he sells his land adjoining the boundary,

and

likewise if he needs money

for the sustenance

of his wife, which he undertook to provide for her in her marriage contract,

and for burial,

for he needs money to bury his dead, since he immediately needs the money,

the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it,

and he need not wait until the bordering neighbor comes to purchase the field.

For the scholars of Nehardea said:

Orphans to whom their father bequeathed land, and it is necessary

to

pay for it

the land tax,

a tax to the king, or the land is encumbered

for the sustenance

of the widow,

and

likewise if money is needed

for the burial

of their father,

we sell

the orphans’ land

without an announcement,

without an announcement to the one who offers the highest price.

And even though they do not sell from the property of orphans without an announcement, in a place where money is needed immediately, they do not wait for an announcement; and all the more so, the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply where the seller immediately needs money.

One who sells a field adjoining his fellow’s boundary

to a woman,

the bordering neighbor has no right to claim that field, since it is not the way of a woman to seek out lands .

And

likewise, one who sells

to orphans,

the bordering neighbor cannot compel them to sell it to him, since there is no one to help them purchase another field.

And

likewise, when a partner sells

to

one of

his partners

his share in the field,

the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it,

and the other partners cannot remove him from the field, since every partner is like a bordering neighbor of the entire field .

One who has a field to sell, and

his neighbors

who live with him in the same

city, and

also

the neighbors of the field,

who are neighbors of another field of the seller and wish to purchase it—since neither of them has a field adjoining the boundary of this field, there is no law of the bordering neighbor here. Nevertheless, it is good counsel and an upright way to say:

the neighbors of the city take precedence.

If they came to purchase the field,

a neighbor

of the seller

and a Torah scholar, the Torah scholar takes precedence ,

and likewise if they came to purchase

a relative

of the seller

and a Torah scholar, the Torah scholar takes precedence.

They raised a dilemma before them:

They came to purchase

a neighbor and a relative—what

who takes precedence?

Come and hear

Proverbs 27]:

“Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away,”

thus, a neighbor takes precedence.

A bordering neighbor and a purchaser came to purchase the field, and their money was different:

These are good coins

whose weight is greater,

and these are strong coins,

sharp and accepted in commerce,

the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it.

For sometimes the seller prefers money whose weight is greater, and sometimes he needs currency accepted in commerce; therefore, he may sell it to whomever he wishes.

And likewise, if the bordering neighbor and the purchaser sent their money to the seller of the field, and

these,

the bordering neighbor’s money,

were tied,

were bound in a package,

and these,

the purchaser’s money,

were open,

in an open package,

the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it.

The purchaser may purchase the field, because the seller does not wish to open a sealed package, for perhaps the bordering neighbor will later say to him: “There was more money in it.”

A bordering neighbor who has no money, and a purchaser came to purchase the field—if

the bordering neighbor said:

the bordering neighbor said:

“I will go and toil,”

I will go to toil

“and bring money,” we do not wait,

we do not wait

for him,

and the purchaser may purchase the field.

But if

he said, “I will go and bring money”

which I have in my house,

we see: if he is a man of means, who will go and bring money, we wait

we wait

for him

until he brings his money and purchases according to the law of the bordering neighbor.

And if not

a man of means,

we do not wait for him.

Land upon which houses were built, and the

land

was owned by

one

person,

and the

houses

built upon it were owned by

one

other

person,

if the owner of the houses wished to sell a house to another

the owner

of the

land may prevent

him—say: the owner of the

houses

should sell it to him according to the law of the bordering neighbor, since it is beneficial for the owner of the land that the building on his land be in his ownership.

But if the owner of the land wished to sell his land to another,

the owner of the houses—

the owner of the houses—

cannot prevent him, say the owners of the land

from selling him the land, because the owner of the houses is no longer considered a bordering neighbor .

And likewise, land in which date palms grew, and the

land

was owned by

one, and the

and the

date palms

were owned by

one

other person: if the owner of the date palms wished to sell his date palms,

the owner of the land can prevent him—say, the owner of the date palms

from selling him the date palms according to the law of the bordering neighbor; but if the owner of the land wished to sell his land to another,

the owner

of the date palms cannot prevent him—say, the owner of the land

from selling him the land, for the owner of the date palms is not considered a bordering neighbor. A purchaser who wishes to purchase

land

in order

to

build

houses

upon it,

and

the bordering neighbor adjoining the field wishes to purchase the

land

in order

to sow,

the law is that

settlement

takes precedence, and the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it.

A field adjoining a field that is going out for sale, with

a rocky ridge interrupting between them, a projection of rock that cannot be plowed and sown in that place,

kamenistyi greben, na kotorom nelzya pakhat i seyat,

or

there was between the fields

a row of date palms

a dense row of date palms,

we see: if the bordering neighbor can

the bordering neighbor

insert

his plow between them and plow

even one furrow with it,

running directly from his field to the adjoining field,

the law of the bordering neighbor applies to it,

for he benefits from purchasing the field adjoining his own; therefore, he takes precedence over every person.

And if not,

if he cannot plow from his field to the seller’s field even one furrow,

the law of the bordering neighbor does not apply to it.

These four bordering neighbors

whose fields surrounded one field,

if one of them preceded and purchased

the field,

his purchase is a purchase

and he acquired it.

And if all of them came together,

and demanded that the seller sell it to them by the law of the bordering neighbor,

we divide it

among all of them

in

such a manner that each one takes the portion in the shape of a triangle adjoining his portion. And this division is called

“Karnzil.” [

“Go to the corners.” Rashi.]