✦ ❖ ✦ D A A T · L E V E L 3 — S Y N T H E S I S / R E V I E W ✦ ❖ ✦
Siman 165 — Lending on the coin, and the weight that changes
דין המלוה על המטבע והוסיפו עליו
A single seif: what is owed when the money is no longer the same, and the one cause of variation that is corrected
Structured review, ruling tables, quick memorisation
Source: Shulchan Aroukh, Yoreh De'ah קס״ה — 1 seif
Nosei kelim: ש״ך (8 ס״ק) · ט״ז (3 ס״ק) · באר היטב (8 ס״ק) · פתחי תשובה (2 ס״ק) · נקודות הכסף (1) · בית יוסף · טור
Compiled by: הרב יוסף חיים סממה · DAAT
For students who have mastered Levels 1 and 2
daattorah.com
📑 Plan of the synthesis
- The axiom: the debt follows the coin, and interest follows the cause
- The 3 reflex questions
- Master table — the seif clause by clause
- טיבעא ותרעא: the three causes of a fall
- The threshold of a fifth and its three reasons
- What is deducted, and how much
- If he did not deduct: two views
- דינא דמלכותא דינא: the Shakh’s conclusion
- The vocabulary of the siman
- Golden rules, mnemonic, pitfalls and a flash card
1. The axiom: the debt follows the coin, and interest follows the cause
The starting point:
Rav Hisda answers “yes” twice to extravagant hypotheses — even if the coin has become broad as a sieve. The debt therefore bears on the monetary unit, not on the metal it contains, and one pays ממטבע היוצא באותה שעה.
Hence the axiom: a variation is corrected only when it is attributable to the coin itself. The lender owes nothing for a cheapness that came from the market; he may keep nothing of an enrichment that the coin he lent has brought him.
The sugya, and Rav Ashi’s division:
💡 The marker: the word of the siman is not מטבע but מחמת.
2. The 3 reflex questions
1. Has the coin’s weight changed? If not, there is nothing to correct — except the gloss’s case, where the new coin circulates more easily. If yes, go on to the next question.
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2. Have prices fallen because of that change? If yes: one deducts, whatever the size of the increase. If the fall comes from the market: one does not deduct — Shakh ס״ק ג.
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3. Does the increase exceed a fifth? Beyond it: one deducts the whole increase, even without a fall in prices. Below it: nothing. And if the figure is unknown, the gloss gives the procedure.
3. Master table — the seif clause by clause
| Clause | Who speaks | What results |
|---|
| המלוה את חבירו על המטבע והוסיפו על משקלו | מחבר | The case: a debt in coin, a weight that changes |
| אם הוזלו הפירות מחמת התוספת מנכה לו שיעור התוספת ואפילו הוסיפו עליו כל שהוא | מחבר | One deducts — once the fall comes from the increase |
| ואם לא הוזלו מחמת התוספת אינו מנכה לו אלא נותן לו ממטבע היוצא באותה שעה | מחבר | One does not deduct — one pays the current coin |
| במה דברים אמורים כשהוסיפו עליו עד חמישיתו כגון שהיה משקלו ד׳ ועשאוהו ה | מחבר | The threshold: a fifth |
| אבל אם הוסיפו עליו יותר על חמישיתו מנכה לו כל התוספת אע״פ שלא הוזלו הפירות | מחבר | Beyond: the whole increase, even without a fall |
| וה״ה למלוה על המטבע ופחתו ממנו | מחבר | The symmetry: likewise if the weight was reduced |
| ועיין בח״ה סימן ע״ד אימת יוכל להחזיר המטבע שהלוה לו אע״ג דנפסלה | Gloss | Cross-reference to Choshen Mishpat 74 |
| ואם הוזלו הפירות מחמת המטבע החדשה ולא הוסיפו עליה נותן לו מטבע החדשה | Gloss | He gives the new coin — the fall comes from its circulation |
| והיכא שעשו מטבע חדשה ולא ידענו אם הוסיפו אם פחתו חומש סמכינן אאומנים עובדי כוכבים דבקיאים בכך במסיחין לפי תומן או הערכאות הממונים על כך | Gloss | Proof of the fact: separate experts, or public officers |
| ואם גזר המלך שכל מי שיפרע יפרע ממטבע חדשה הולכים אחר גזירת המלך דדינא דמלכותא דינא ואין בזה לא משום רבית ולא משום איסור גזל | Gloss | Neither interest nor theft — דינא דמלכותא דינא |
4. טיבעא ותרעא: the three causes of a fall
| The cause of the fall | Deduction? | Source |
|---|
| The coin’s weight increased — מחמת טיבעא | Yes | שו״ע יו״ד קס״ה:א · בבא קמא צ״ז ע״ב |
| The market — מחמת תרעא | No | ש״ך יו״ד קס״ה ס״ק ג · בבא קמא צ״ח ע״א |
| The ease of circulation of a new coin, at equal weight | No — he gives the new coin | רמ״א יו״ד קס״ה:א · ש״ך יו״ד קס״ה ס״ק ו |
The commonest trap. One assumes the halakha compares purchasing powers. It does not: it asks where the difference comes from. A general inflation or deflation, with no change in the coin, does not belong to this seif — the Shakh expressly excludes it at ס״ק ג.
5. The threshold of a fifth and its three reasons
| The author | The reason | What would make it vary |
|---|
| רא״ש | Recasting costs a fifth: waste of smelting and the smith’s wage | A different cost of recasting |
| רשב״א | Within one minting, coins already vary by a fifth | A perfectly regular minting |
| מרדכי | It is the borrower’s presumed intention | An express stipulation to the contrary |
6. What is deducted, and how much
The all-or-nothing rule
The threshold of a fifth is not an allowance but a trigger. Below it there is no duty to deduct; above it the duty arises — and the Taz then writes כיון דחייב לנכות מנכה את כולו. One does not therefore subtract the excess alone: one subtracts the whole increase.
7. If he did not deduct: two views
| Qualification | Restitution | Who |
|---|
| רבית קצוצה | Recovered in court | The first view of the Sefer HaTerumot |
| אבק רבית | Not recovered | The second view — and the Rambam |
8. דינא דמלכותא דינא: the Shakh’s conclusion
Three steps, and a conclusion
(1) The increment is not interest, for it is exacted against the payer’s will. (2) It would therefore be theft — except that the law of the kingdom makes the exaction lawful. (3) And the Shakh shows, against a citation he finds faulty, that monetary matters fall under this principle even on the most restrictive view. His conclusion: וכן עיקר לדינא.
9. The vocabulary of the siman
| Term | What it denotes | Where it counts here |
|---|
| מטבע | The monetary unit, at once object and measure | The subject of the whole siman |
| נסכא | The metal apart from minting | The measure of gain, per the Rosh |
| טיבעא | The coin itself | The cause that gives rise to deduction |
| תרעא | The market rate | The cause that does not |
| חומש | A fifth — the threshold | A trigger, not an allowance |
| חריפות | A coin’s ease of circulation | The gloss’s case, Shakh ס״ק ו |
| מסיחין לפי תומן | Testimony given unguardedly | The gloss’s mode of proof |
| ערכאות | The public officers appointed over the coinage | A second mode of proof |
| דינא דמלכותא דינא | The law of the kingdom is law | The end of the gloss, and the Shakh’s ס״ק ח |
| רבית קצוצה · אבק רבית | Stipulated interest · what resembles it | If he did not deduct what he owed |
10. Golden rules, mnemonic, pitfalls and a flash card
The 5 golden rules
- The debt bears on the coin. One pays ממטבע היוצא באותה שעה, and Rav Hisda’s two “yes”-es say so without reserve.
- Only the cause decides. מחמת טיבעא: one deducts; מחמת תרעא: one does not.
- The fifth is a threshold, not an allowance. Once crossed, one deducts everything.
- The rule works both ways. Increase or reduction, and even outside a loan — the ketuba in the Rambam, trade in the Taz.
- What the sovereign imposes is neither interest nor theft. And the Shakh concludes that coinage falls under this principle without dispute.
Mnemonic — the word מטבע
מ — מחמת : the cause decides everything
ט — טיבעא : what comes from the coin is deducted
ב — בחומש : the threshold, and it triggers all or nothing
ע — ערכאות : who establishes the fact, and who may decree it
The 4 classic pitfalls
- Comparing purchasing powers. The seif never does that: it asks where the difference comes from.
- Treating the fifth as an allowance. The Taz writes the opposite at ס״ק ב.
- Thinking the siman concerns only a loan. The Rambam includes the ketuba in it, and the Taz ordinary trade.
- Extending דינא דמלכותא without an enactment. The Shakh insists: the sovereign must have commanded expressly, and for all.
Flash card. המלוה על המטבע → מטבע היוצא באותה שעה → והא קא זיילין פירי → מחמת טיבעא · מחמת תרעא → עד חמישיתו → מנכה לו כל התוספת → ופחתו ממנו → מסיחין לפי תומן → דינא דמלכותא דינא.
🎓 Recap of the study path