Hilchot Malveh veLoveh – Chapter 19
🏷️ Title
Chapter 19: Prioritizing Land in Debt Collection and Buyer Protections
📘 Overview
This chapter outlines the halachic rules for collecting debts from a borrower’s property, focusing on which type of land may be seized—iddit (best), beinonit (average), or zibburit (lowest quality). It explains the Torah’s original law and the rabbinic enactments that modified it to protect borrowers and maintain a healthy lending system.
The chapter also explores how these rules apply when collecting from heirs or from property that has been sold to others. It introduces the principle of “leaving a place to collect from,” which protects buyers from unfair seizure. The halachot also clarify how different types of claims—damages, loans, and ketubah obligations—are collected from different land grades, and how the order of sale affects the creditor’s rights.
Halacha 1: Collecting from the Borrower Himself
By Torah law, a creditor collects from zibburit, the lowest quality land. However, the Sages instituted that loans should be collected from beinonit to avoid discouraging lending and to protect borrowers from excessive loss.
Halacha 2: Collecting from Heirs
When collecting from heirs—whether minors or adults—the creditor may only collect from zibburit. The rabbinic leniency of beinonit applies only to the borrower himself, not to his inheritors.
Halacha 3: Free vs. Encumbered Property
A creditor must first collect from unencumbered property (bnei chorin) before resorting to sold or gifted property (meshubadim), even if the sold property is of higher quality. If the free property is destroyed or lost, the creditor may collect from the sold property.
Halacha 4: Multiple Sales and Buyer Protection
If a borrower sells all his fields to one person, who then sells one field to another, the creditor may collect from either buyer—only if the second buyer received beinonit. If he received iddit or zibburit, the creditor cannot collect from him, since he can claim, “I intentionally bought land not subject to seizure.”
Halacha 5: Leaving a Place to Collect
If the second buyer received beinonit, and the first buyer retained similar beinonit, the creditor must collect from the first buyer. The second buyer can say, “I left you a place to collect,” and is thus protected.
Halacha 6: Assigning Land Types to Different Claims
Halacha assigns land types to different obligations:
- Damages are collected from iddit (best land)
- Loans from beinonit (average land)
- Ketubah from zibburit (lowest land)
If only two types of land exist, the claims adjust accordingly based on availability.
Halacha 7: Order of Sale Affects Collection Rights
If land is sold to multiple buyers at once, each claim is collected from its appropriate land type. But if sold sequentially, creditors collect from the last buyer first. If his land is insufficient, they move backward through the chain of buyers.
Halacha 8: Waiving Rights and Circular Seizure
If a creditor waives his right to collect from a second buyer, he forfeits the ability to collect from the first buyer’s property. This can lead to a circular pattern of seizure—creditor from buyer, buyer from creditor, and so on—until a compromise is reached. The same applies to a woman collecting her ketubah.
✅ Takeaway
Chapter 19 teaches that debt collection must be fair and structured. The Sages refined Torah law to protect borrowers, heirs, and buyers while ensuring creditors can collect what they’re owed. By assigning land types to different claims and regulating how and from whom property may be seized, halacha preserves justice and economic stability.
