Kiddushin

[is fit] for a prosbul1 to be written thereon, and that property which does not provide security [movables] shall be acquired along with it. But if you say: They must be heaped thereon, for what is a very small piece of land fit? — R. Samuel b. Bisna explained it in R. Joseph's presence: E.g., if he sticks a needle therein.2 Said R. Joseph to him. You annoy us:3 has the Tanna troubled to teach us about a needle! — Said R. Ashi: who tells us that he did not suspend a pearl on it, worth a thousand zuz? Come and hear: R. Eleazar said: It once happened that a certain Meronite4 in Jerusalem had a large quantity of movables, which he desired to give away. He was thereupon informed that he had no other means but to transfer them along with land. What did he do? He went and bought beth sela’5 near Jerusalem and declared: ‘The north of this belongs to So-and-so, and together with it go a hundred sheep and a hundred barrels’;6 on his death his directions were carried out. But if you say: They [the movables] must be heaped up thereon, for what is beth sela’ fit? — Do you think that by beth sela’ literally a sela’ [coin] is meant? What is sela’? A large area; and why was it called sela’? Because it was as hard as a rock.7 Come and hear: For Rab Judah said in Rab's name: It once happened that a certain man who fell ill in Jerusalem (that is in accordance with R. Eleazar's view) — others state, he was in good health, which agrees with the Rabbis8 — had a large quantity of movables, which he desired to dispose of as a gift. Thereupon he was told that he had no other option but to transfer it along with land. What did he do? He went and purchased [a field] a quarter [kab's sowing] in area9 and declared: ‘Let a square handbreadth10 belong to So-and-so, and with it go a hundred sheep and a hundred barrels’:11 on his death, the Sages confirmed his testimony. Now, if you say that they [the movables] must be heaped up thereon, for what is a square handbreadth fit? — The reference here is to money.12 Reason too supports this. For should you think that a hundred sheep and a hundred barrels are meant literally, he should have transferred them by barter!13 What then: money? Then he could have transferred it to him by meshikah? But [it must mean] that the recipient is absent; then here too,14 it means that the recipient is absent. Then he should have transferred it to him by another?15 — He could not rely thereon, fearing that the other would steal and consume it. Then what is meant by ‘he had no other option’? — It means this: in view [of the fact] that he has no confidence [in a stranger], there is no other course but to transfer it in virtue of real estate. Come and hear: Rabban Gamaliel and some elders were once travelling in a ship. Said Rabban Gamaliel to the elders, ‘Let the tenth which I am to measure out as though already collected from the debtor, so that the seventh year did not cancel them. This was done only if the debtor possessed land. — This measure was instituted by Hillel, who saw that people refused to lend money when the seventh year was approaching, with consequent hardships for the poor; v. Git. 36a. one rock, upon which it would be impossible to place anything; and (iii) a piece of rocky soil. The first or second is assumed to be meant. mere words, but the recipient must perform an act of acquisition. Hence the following story can refer even to a sick person. But the Rabbis hold this unnecessary in the case of a sick person, whose verbal testimony suffices; hence what is related must have happened to a man in good health.