Rabbi Abraham Twersky used to say that a coincidence is God working his miracles incognito. Yesterday we celebrated the new month of Nisan in which the holiday of Passover falls. Today’s daf TB Baba Metzia 42 cites a law concerning hametz to clarify proper guarding of money. A mere coincidence, I think not.
What was
proper safekeeping of money back during the Talmud period? “Shmuel says:
There is safeguarding for money only in the ground...(Sadly times changed and the Gemara
recognizes that just bearing money was no longer sufficient and added-gg) And now that rummagers, who dig to find and steal buried property, are
commonplace, there is safeguarding for money only in the beams of
the roof of a house. The Gemara comments: And now that dismantlers,
who attempt to find and steal property hidden in beams, are commonplace,
there is safeguarding for money only between the bricks of a
wall. Rava said: And Shmuel concedes that money can be safeguarded in
the wall or, alternatively, between the corners of the house. And now
that tappers, who tap on walls to find and steal property hidden there, are
commonplace, there is safeguarding for money only in the
handbreadth of the wall adjacent to the ground or in the handbreadth
of the wall adjacent to the ceiling, as tapping on the wall will not
reveal their existence.” (Sefaria.com translation)
How deep did one have to bury the money to be safeguarded? Perhaps the laws of Passover are relevant. We know that not only does the Torah commands us to eat matzot during Passover, it forbids us to own any hametz. “וְלֹֽא־יֵרָאֶ֨ה לְךָ֜ חָמֵ֗ץ וְלֹֽא־יֵרָאֶ֥ה לְךָ֛ שְׂאֹ֖ר בְּכָל־גְּבֻלֶֽךָ:-no leavened bread shall be found with you, and no leaven shall be found in all your territory.” (Exodus 13:7) To make sure we don’t have any leaven products in our house, we do three things. We sell the hametz to a non-Jewish person. The night before the Seder, we also search the house for any hametz and the next day we burn what we find (bedikat hametz and biur hametz). After we burn it, we annul all hametz we may have missed.
“Rav Aḥa,
son of Rav Yosef, said to Rav Ashi: We learned in a mishna there (Pesaḥim
31b): The legal status of leavened bread upon which a rockslide fell is like
that of leavened bread that was eliminated, as it will remain there
forever. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: This ruling applies in any
case where the leavened bread is covered to the extent that a dog is unable
to detect it. And it is taught: How much is the measure of detection
of a dog? It is three handbreadths. The question is: Here, what
is the halakha? Do we require the money to be buried at a depth
of three handbreadths or not?
"Rav Ashi said to Rav Aḥa: There, with regard to bread, it is due to the scent that we require three handbreadths to obscure it from the dog. Here, with regard to money, it is because it must be obscured from the eye that we bury it. Scent is not relevant, and therefore we do not need three handbreadths. The Gemara asks: And how deep must the money be buried? Rafram from Sikhera said: One handbreadth.” (Sefaria.org translation)
In the end the laws of hametz don’t elucidate proper
safeguarding of money. Nevertheless, Today’s daf is a good review of some of the laws of hametz as we prepare for Passover. By the way, if you wish to use
me as your agent to sell your hametz,
message or email me your name, the address where the hametz is found, and authorize me as your agent, I will do the rest.
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