Introduction
Today s section contains two more stories of people who sell their property in order to move to Israel, but in the end do not succeed in doing so. Interesting that the same phenomenon that occurred 1500 years ago still occurs. Its not easy moving to a foreign land for ideological reasons.
ההוא גברא דזבנינהו לניכסיה אדעתא למיסק לארעא דישראל
סליק ולא איתדר ליה
אמר רבא כל דסליק אדעתא למידר הוא והא לא איתדר ליה
איכא דאמרי אדעתא למיסק והא סליק ליה
A certain man sold his property with the [express] intention of moving to Eretz Yisrael.
He moved, but did not settle there.
Rava said: When one goes there, it is with the intention of settling, and this man has not settled.
Others state [that he ruled]: [He sold it] with the intention of moving, and he has done so.
In this case, the man stated explicitly that his intention was to move to the land of Israel. The question is what counts as moving to Israel? Just going there, or settling there permanently? According to the first ruling, his intention was to settle there. No one declares that they are moving to Israel without the intention of settling there. Therefore, when he comes back to Babylonia, he can renege on his sale because his intention was not fulfilled.
According to the other version, his intention was just to move there. Since he did, the sale is final even though he move back and he cannot ask to renege.
ההוא גברא דזבנינהו לניכסיה אדעתא למיסק לארץ ישראל לסוף לא סליק
אמר רב אשי אי בעי סליק
איכא דאמרי אי בעי לא סליק
מאי בינייהו איכא בינייהו דאיתיליד אונסא באורחא
A certain man sold his property with the [express] intention of moving to Eretz Yisrael.
At the end, he did not go. R. Ashi said: He could have gone had he desired.
Others state [that R. Ashi said]: Had he desired, could he have not gone?
What is the difference between them? They differ where an unforeseen circumstance happened on the way.
In this case, the man does not go to Israel, and the question again arises, whether he can renege on his sale. According to the first version, he could have gone and since he did not, the sale cannot be annulled. According the second version, where R. Ashi responds in the form of a question, if some unforeseen circumstance, something that could not be helped, prevents him from moving to Israel, then he can renege on the sale.