תלמוד על בבא מציעא 4:3

MISHNAH: If anything is given instead of money, if one entered in possession, the other is obligated for its exchange⁵²¹If property is acquired by payment in kind, only one of the parties has to execute an act of taking possession. The other party then automatically is in possession and also assumes liability. This is not simple barter but exchange of money’s worth against money’s worth.. How is this? If an ox was exchanged for a cow, or a donkey for an ox, if one entered in possession, the other is obligated for its exchange. Possession of Heaven is by money⁵²²For the Temple, possession comes together with ownership by payment; it does not need a separate act on entering into possession., possession of an individual by taking hold. A promise to Heaven is like delivery to an individual⁵²³Anything vowed to Heaven is as if delivered; the promise cannot be retracted..

HALAKHAH: “If anything is given instead of money,” etc. There, we have stated⁵²⁴Mishnah Baba meṣia‘ 4:1. Legal tender coin is not “movables” (Babli 28a/b); payment transfers ownership but not possession. The exchange of movables transfers both ownership and possession.: “This is the principle: All movables acquire one another.” Rebbi Abba, Rav Ḥuna in the name of Rav: Even heaps among heaps⁵²⁵A heap of grain at one place may be exchanged for a heap of grain at another place even if it is impossible to assign an exact price to either of them.. Rebbi Eleazar said to him, we have stated only: “If anything is given instead of money,” anything that needs estimation. It turns out that Rebbi Abba follows Rebbi Joḥanan and Rebbi Eleazar his own opinion, as we have stated there⁵²⁶Mishnah Šeqalim 1:7, Ḥulin 1:7, Bekhorot 9:3. Tradition held that firstlings are sanctified only if they belong to a single owner. The same is stated for animal tithe (Lev. 27:32); it is due only if the herd belongs to a single individual.: “Brothers having common property who are obligated for agio⁵²⁷Cf. Note 122. The annual Temple tax, half a holy šeqel (cf. Note 353) per person, had to be given as a coin (Šeqalim 1:6, 46 1. 32; cf. all sources quoted in Tanḥuma Buber Ky Tiśśa 7, Note 46.) If payment was not made in the correct coin, an agio had to be paid to the Temple’s collectors. Only one agio was due per household, when the father paid the tax for himself and all adult males in his house. (Liddell and Scott compare the Greek word κόλλυβος to Hebrew חלף, “exchange, substitution”.) are free from animal tithe⁵²⁸If brothers are obligated to pay separate agios, they do not form a household. The flock they own as inheritance from their father therefore is held in partnership and is free from the duty of animal tithe., but if they are obligated for animal tithe they are free from agio⁵²⁹If their father’s inheritance was not distributed, they still form their father’s family, pay the Temple tax together, and are obligated for animal tithe..” Rebbi Eleazar said, only if they exchanged kid goats against rams and rams against kid goats. But if they exchanged kid goats against kid goats and rams against rams, that was [the recipient’s] part from the first moment⁵³⁰It turns out that it was his from the moment of the father’s death. Then the animals never had multiple owners. In the Babli, Bekhorot 52b, the opinion attributed here to R. Eleazar is ascribed to Rav Anan; R. Eleazar there requires that not all brothers receive the same number of animals.. Rebbi Joḥanan said, even if they exchanged kid goats against kid goats and rams against rams, they are buyers⁵³¹In all cases of liquidation of an inheritance with multiple heirs. This principle is accepted in the Babli in R. Joḥanan’s name (Beṣah 37b, Giṭṭin25a,48a, Baba qama 69b, Bekhorot52b,57a).. But we have stated there: “The buyer and the recipient of a gift are free from animal tithe. Brothers having common property who are obligated for agio are free from animal tithe.” When they split and then joined again. “But if they are obligated for animal tithe they are free from agio.” If they never split.