Today's Rambam Sheet

Yamamai Limmudei Kodesh Bureau

27 Cheshvan 5766
Rambam Gezela Va’aveda Perek 18- Laws of returning documents

1. Shtar chov means a document stating that one person (Reuvain) owes another person (Shimon) stuff (could be money, chocolate cake, house, fireplace etc.). In a shtar chov, if Reuvain would not have the money to pay back Shimon, bais din would force Reuvain to sell his property or fields and use the money to pay back Shimon. If Reuvain gave or sold the field to Levi after he owed Shimon the money, the field would be taken away from Levi and given to Shimon.

2. Shtar chov needs the witnesses that are signed on it to be verified. The property cannot be taken away from Reuvain until the witnesses are proven to be real.

3. If Chaim Hertzel finds a shtar chov, even if Reuvain admits that it is a good document and that he owes Shimon the money, and Shimon also agrees that Reuvain owes him the money, and the witnesses are validated, it would not get returned to Shimon. The reason for this is that it is possible that the two of them are making the following trick: The document was true but Shimon had already been paid back. Afterward, Reuvain gave away or sold his field to Levi, and then got into a fight with Levi and wants the field back. So now Reuvain will get together with Shimon and use the shtar chov to get the court to take the field away from Levi since the shtar chov gives Shimon the first rights to the field. This is called kenunya (deceive).

4. When a shtar chov is written, it states that the lender (Shimon) may collect from the borrower’s property. However, even if it did not state this, the rule still applies and the lender may collect from the borrower’s property since we say that the person who wrote the shtar chov forgot to write it. But, if it said on the shtar chov that Shimon cannot collect from Reuvain’s properties, he will not be able to collect from the properties.

5. If there is a simon (identification mark) with the document, it would get returned. A good simon could be the pouch that it was found in, the hole in the top left corner, or the length of the string that the shtar chov was tied with.

6. If there were three shtar chov each stating that a different person owes Srully Weiss $10, they would all get returned to Srully. If there were three documents stating that Srully owed three people money, they should be returned to Srully. However, in both these cases, if the witnesses were not validated, the documents would not be returned since it is possible that the three people hired the same person to make their shtar chov and the guy made them and then dropped them.

Name: ________________________

A) A shtar chov has: a) no power in court; b) little power in court; c) strong power in court.

B) What is the Hebrew word for the trick that Reuvain and Shimon could make? _________

C) What do we assume is the reason for a shtar chov not stating that it is taking control of the property of the person who is borrowing the money? ____________________________

Dedicated to Rabbi Botnick
For giving Tiffy and myself a ride to Ottawa