✦ ❖ ✦ D A A T · L E V E L 3 — S Y N T H E S I S / R E V I S I O N ✦ ❖ ✦

Siman 151 — What a Jew sells, rents, gives and says to a non-Jew

דברים המוצרכים לעבודת כוכבים אסור לישראל למוכרם

Fourteen seifim. The preceding siman closed the laws of the forbidden object; this one moves to daily dealing, and gathers in it four prohibitions with different roots
Structured revision, ruling tables, quick memorization

Source: Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah קנ״א — 14 seifim
Nosei kelim: ש״ך (19 ס״ק) · ט״ז (9 ס״ק) · באר היטב (15 ס״ק) · פתחי תשובה (5 ס״ק) · בית יוסף · טור · רמב״ם
Compiled by: הרב יוסף חיים סממה · DAAT
For students who have mastered Levels 1 and 2
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📑 Plan of the synthesis

The axiom: the siman does not weigh the goods, it weighs what the act gives
The 4 reflex questions
Master table — the fourteen seifim, one per line
Four prohibitions in one siman
The Shakh’s line: everything depends on who stands opposite
The six maḥlokot of the siman
The 5 golden rules
Mnemonic — the memory aid “סחורה”
The 5 classic pitfalls
Final flash card

1. The axiom: the siman does not weigh the goods, it weighs what the act gives

The siman never asks whether the object is sacred or profane: it asks what the act gives the other, and what it takes from the one who performs it. Frankincense is permitted in bulk and forbidden singly (seif א). Wax is permitted on Monday and forbidden on Sunday (seif ג). The same sword is forbidden in seif ה and permitted in seif ו. The same house may not be sold and may be rented in the Land of Israel (seif ח), and may not be rented for dwelling elsewhere (seif י). None of this depends on the merchandise.

The sharpest proof is seif 6. The weapon is exactly the one in seif 5 — and it becomes permitted because the reasoning changes subject: it is no longer the third party it threatens, it is the seller it protects. The reason is written into the text, and the gemara says it in a word about the Persians:

« וְהָאִידָּנָא דְּקָא מְזַבְּנִינַן, אָמַר רַב אָשֵׁי: לְפָרְסָאֵי דְּמַגְּנוּ עִילָּוַון » (עבודה זרה ט״ז ע״א)

And that is why seifim 12 and 13, which look out of place, are exactly where they belong: they say what happens when the act gives the cult no support, gives the other no foothold, and takes no duty from the doer. Peace remains, and everything becomes permitted again.

« תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: מְפַרְנְסִים עֲנִיֵּי גוֹיִם עִם עֲנִיֵּי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וּמְבַקְּרִין חוֹלֵי גוֹיִם עִם חוֹלֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְקוֹבְרִין מֵתֵי גוֹיִם עִם מֵתֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, מִפְּנֵי דַּרְכֵי שָׁלוֹם » (גיטין ס״א ע״א)

2. The 4 reflex questions

What am I handing over, and what will it serve? An article reserved for that cult? Then seifim 1 to 3. A beast or a weapon? Then seifim 4 to 6, and the question of the cult does not even arise.
To whom? An idolatrous non-Jew, a non-Jew who is not, an observant Jew, a Jew who is not. The Shakh at ס״ק ו makes this question the key to seif 1, and the Shakh at ס״ק ז the key to today’s world.
Does it give him a foothold in the land? Something attached to the soil, a house, a field, three dwellings at once. Then seifim 7 to 10, and the answer depends first on the country.
Do I receive anything in return? If so, it is not a gift (seif 11). If not, and the return is peace, it is permitted and even desirable (seifim 12 and 13).

3. Master table — the fourteen seifim, one per line

Seif	What it says
א	Forbidden to sell what is reserved for that cult to its worshippers here. Permitted: in bulk, with a verified other use, after being made unfit. Rama: no baptismal water; if they can buy elsewhere, everything is permitted.
ב	Forbidden: the padded order that hides the cultic article. Quantity proves nothing any more.
ג	Forbidden: wax on their festival day. Rama: and the eve. Permitted on other days.
ד	Small cattle: by local custom. Large cattle: forbidden everywhere, except through a Jewish broker or sale for slaughter. Today custom permits in everything — the sale only.
ה	Forbidden: beasts, weapons, stocks, fetters, chains, ingot; sharpening; building the courthouse. The same for the suspect Jew and the Jewish brigand.
ו	Permitted: selling weapons to the king’s army under treaty, because it defends the city one lives in.
ז	Land of Israel: nothing attached to the soil. Permitted on condition of cutting, and he cuts.
ח	Land of Israel: no house or field for sale; house for rent, field not. Syria: house sold, field rented. Diaspora: both are sold.
ט	Forbidden: three at once, sale or rent, in a Jewish quarter. One or two: anything — and we do not fear resale.
י	Renting: storehouse yes, dwelling no. Rama: custom rents for dwelling too; and one who rents from a non-Jew shall not leave his cultic object there.
יא	Forbidden: a free gift to a non-Jew one does not know. Permitted to a friend, a neighbour, a customer.
יב	Permitted: to support their poor, visit their sick, bury their dead, eulogize them, console their mourners — ways of peace.
יג	One does not prevent their poor from taking gleanings, the forgotten sheaf and the corner.
יד	Forbidden: praise, even of beauty alone. Permitted: giving thanks to the Creator for a fine creature.

4. Four prohibitions in one siman

This is the most useful distinction in the siman, and the one most quickly forgotten. Four roots, four regimes, and nothing carries from one to another.

1. לפני עור — the block before the blind · seifim א ב ג · What I supply will serve the cult. Measured by his ability to obtain it without me; it lapses with that ability.

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2. שביתת בהמתו — his beast’s rest · seif ד · Nothing to do with idolatry. A Shabbat decree, and one of only two prohibitions in the siman that remain whole today — for lending and hiring.

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3. נזק לרבים — harm to the public · seifim ה ו · Measured by the third party, not by the cult. It inverts when the protected third party is me.

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4. לא תחנם — grace refused · seifim ז ח ט י יא יד · One verse, three readings: the foothold in the soil, the free gift, grace in the eyes. Six seifim issue from them — nearly half the siman.

There remain seifim יב and יג, which belong to none of the four roots: they come from דרכי שלום and run the other way.

5. The Shakh’s line: everything depends on who stands opposite

Seif 1 reads two ways: once as a maḥloket between the Mordekhi and the מחמירין, once as a division of cases. The Shakh takes the second, and that reading reorganizes the whole siman.

« אבל לפעד״נ דלא פליגי דכ״ע מודים להמרדכי ותוס׳ בפ״ק דעבודת כוכבי׳ דבעובד כוכבי׳ או מומר שרי » (ש״ך יו״ד קנ״א ס״ק ו)

Who stands opposite	Can he buy elsewhere?	Verdict	Source
An idolatrous non-Jew	No	Forbidden	Seif א
An idolatrous non-Jew	Yes	Permitted — and such is the custom	Rama, seif א
A non-Jew of today, not an idolater	Not relevant	Permitted — he is not warned on שיתוף	Shakh ס״ק ז · Baer Hetev ס״ק ה
An apostate Jew	Not relevant	Like a non-Jew per the Shakh	Shakh ס״ק ו
An apostate Jew	Not relevant	Like a Jew per the Ḥavot Yair	Pitḥei Teshuva ס״ק ג
An observant Jew	Yes, and it changes nothing	Forbidden — duty to keep him from sin	Shakh ס״ק ו, in the name of the Rosh

There is an unexpected consequence here: the strictest line in seif 1 concerns not non-Jews but Jews. Everything custom relaxed, it relaxed on the non-Jew’s side; on the Jew’s side nothing moved, and the Shakh draws it from the Rosh — “this is no less than a Jewish child eating nevelot, whom the court must keep from it; all the more so an adult Jew”.

6. The six maḥlokot of the siman

The issue	Position A	Position B	What is accepted
Selling to one who can buy elsewhere	Mordekhi, Tosafot: permitted	יש מחמירין: forbidden even then	Custom follows A; a בעל נפש follows B for himself. The Shakh: they do not differ, they divide the cases
The Rama’s permission itself	Rama: the possibility of buying elsewhere suffices	Emunat Shmuel: the gemara says “he has”, not “he can buy”	Pitḥei Teshuva ס״ק ב reports the doubt without settling it
Selling wax on the festival eve	Rama, from the Mordekhi: forbidden	Rabbenu Tam and all decisors: the day itself only	Shakh ס״ק ח: צ״ע; his solution is that the Mordekhi spoke of the Land of Israel
The reason for the ban on small cattle	Gemara, Rashi, Tosafot: suspicion of bestiality	Levush: a decree on account of large cattle	Shakh ס״ק ט against the Levush — then he finds Rashi on Pesaḥim on the other side, and leaves it in צ״ע
The broker of seif 4	Tur: only a Jewish dealer who resells at once	Rashi and Rambam: an ordinary broker	The Meḥaber writes “broker”; the Shakh ס״ק י״א adds: Jewish
Selling a tree on condition of cutting	Rambam, Rosh: permitted	Rif: only after felling	The Meḥaber follows the Rambam; Shakh ס״ק י״ד: he cuts after the sale

7. The 5 golden rules

The goods do not decide alone. Object, buyer and place are taken together — which is why seif 1 writes “in that place” twice.
We answer for the stumbling-block, not for the block of the block — unless the next link is a Jew (Taz ס״ק ג).
“Custom has permitted in everything” never covers more than what it speaks of. In seif 4, the sale; neither lending nor hiring, against which the Shakh and the Taz say one must protest.
What touches the land follows the country; what touches number crosses it. Seifim 7 and 8 stop at the borders of Eretz Israel; seif 9 applies everywhere (Shakh ס״ק ט״ו).
A gift that calls for a return is not a gift. Seif 11 covers only what never comes back — and seif 12 shows that even what never comes back is permitted when what is sought is peace.

8. Mnemonic — the memory aid “סחורה”

The six letters of סחורה — “merchandise” — give the six questions of the siman, in the order it asks them.

ס — סחורה · is the article reserved for that cult? (seifim א ב ג)
ח — חי · is it a living creature, beast or wild animal? (seifim ד ה)
ו — וברית · does a treaty invert the prohibition? (seif ו)
ר — רשות · is it real property, and where? (seifim ז ח ט י)
ה — הענקה · is it a gift with no return? (seif יא)
ה — הודאה · and if I speak, is it praise or thanksgiving? (seif יד)

There remain the two seifim of the ways of peace, remembered not by a letter but by their place: they are set between the gift and the praise, between what one gives and what one says.

9. The 5 classic pitfalls

Thinking “custom has permitted in everything” covers lending an animal. It covers only the sale. The Shakh at ס״ק י״ב and the Taz at ס״ק ה both write that one must protest against lending and hiring.
Applying the Rama’s permission to a Jewish customer. That is exactly the error the Shakh at ס״ק ו rules out: the possibility of buying elsewhere does not release one from the duty to keep a Jew from sin.
Thinking seif 9 applies only in the Land of Israel, because it follows seif 8. The Shakh at ס״ק ט״ו says expressly: outside the Land too.
Thinking selling is graver than renting in seif 10. It is the reverse: sale for a dwelling is permitted wherever sale is permitted, because the Jew retains no right in the house — Beit Yosef, Shakh ס״ק ט״ז.
Forgetting the end of the Rama’s gloss at seif 10. It no longer speaks of the landlord but of the tenant: one who rents a house from a non-Jew must not leave the owner’s cultic object there.

10. Final flash card

Fourteen seifim, four roots, one question. Does what I hand over serve the cult (א–ג)? Does it still bind me through Shabbat (ד)? Does it endanger a third party (ה–ו)? Does it give a foothold, a free gift, a look of favour (ז–יא, יד)? And if the answer is no four times, then the ways of peace take over (יב–יג).

Three things not to forget on the way out. Lending an animal remains forbidden despite the custom. The Rama’s permission does not hold before a Jew. And the threshold of three dwellings crosses borders, unlike everything else in the לא תחנם block.