Gittin, Daf Het, Part 5

 

Introduction

The Talmud continues to explain the baraita about the differences and similarities between the land of Israel and Syria.

 

וְהַקּוֹנֶה שָׂדֶה בְּסוּרְיָא כְּקוֹנָהּ בְּפַרְוָארֵי יְרוּשָׁלַיִם

לְמַאי הִילְכְתָא אָמַר רַב שֵׁשֶׁת לוֹמַר שֶׁכּוֹתְבִין עָלָיו אוֹנוֹ וַאֲפִילּוּ בְּשַׁבָּת

בְּשַׁבָּת סָלְקָא דַעְתָּךְ כִּדְאָמַר רָבָא אוֹמֵר לְגוֹי וְעוֹשֶׂה הָכָא נָמֵי אוֹמֵר לְגוֹי וְעוֹשֶׂה וְאַף עַל גַּב דַּאֲמִירָה לְגוֹי שְׁבוּת מִשּׁוּם יִשּׁוּב אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל לָא גְּזוּר רַבָּנַן

 

And one who buys a field in Syria is like one who buys in the outskirts of Jerusalem:

What is the practical implication of this?

R. Sheshet said: It teaches that one writes the sale document even on Shabbat.

On Shabbat! Can you really think that? Rather it is like Rava said: One can tell a non-Jew to do it, here too one can tell a non-Jew to do it. And even though telling a non-Jew to do work on Shabbat is prohibited due to mandated rest, due to the settling of the land of Israel, they did not make a decree.

 

The baraita said that buying a piece of land in Syria is like buying land outside of Jerusalem (today one might beg to differ). There must be some halakhic implication to this otherwise why would the baraita state it?

The Talmud answers that there is a special Shabbat dispensation for one who buys land in Israel, and this same extension applies to buying land in Syria. The reason for this dispensation is to encourage Jews to buy land in Israel this was probably written in a time when many Jews were leaving for Babylonia.

At first Rav Sheshet seems to allow writing the document on Shabbat. But this is too much for the Talmud to countenance writing on Shabbat is considered to prohibited by the Torah. Rather, the Talmud allows one to tell a non-Jew to write this document on Shabbat. Telling a non-Jew to work on Shabbat is prohibited, but it is a lesser prohibition, and thus it can be waved in cases of great need.