- שליח כמאן – כדיינין או כאלמנה
The question was asked: שליח כמאן – A shaliach is like whom? Are his sales treated like an almanah’s sales and are considered void through a small error, or are they treated like Beis Din’s sales which are not voided unless the error amounts to a sixth? Rava said in the name of Rav Nachman, שליח כדיינין – a shaliach who erred is like judges who erred, because just as judges are not selling the property for their own sake, so too the shaliach is not selling it for his own sake, and therefore they are not benefiting from the mistake. This excludes an almanah from the leniency, who is selling the property for her own sake. Rav Shmuel bar Bisna said in the name of Rav Nachman that the shaliach is like an almanah, מה אלמנה יחידה אף שליח יחיד – for just as the almanah is an individual, so too the shaliach is an individual, לאפוקי בית דין דרבים נינהו – which excludes Beis Din from the stringency, which is a group of people. The Gemara states that the halachah is that the shaliach is like an almanah, and even a small error invalidates the sale.
- ובי דינא דזבין אחריות איתמי
Rav Yosef said: ארמלתא דזבינה אחריות איתמי– If an almanah sells her late husband’s estate, the guarantee of the sale falls on the yesomim. Rashi explains that if it turns out that the land was stolen or mortgaged and is seized by its rightful owner, the buyer is compensated by the yesomim, for the almanah is considered merely their shaliach. ובי דינא דזבין אחריות איתמי - And if Beis Din sells the late husband’s estate, the guarantee of the sale falls on the yesomim. When the Gemara says this is obvious and asks what the point of this ruling is, it answers that while the point about the almanah alone is unnecessary, it was necessary to teach it regarding Beis Din. One might have thought, כל דזבין מבי דינא אדעתא למיפק ליה קלא הוא דזבין – whoever buys property from Beis Din buys it with the understanding that word regarding its sale went out to the public. Rashi explains that since they publicize the sale with a הכרזה – an announcement, the buyer is certain that if there were someone to claim the land, they would have stepped forward, and he buys the land without a guarantee. Rav Yosef is coming to teach that in fact the sale is still deemed guaranteed and it is on the yesomim to compensate the buyer.
- Things that are sold without a הכרזה
Ameimar said in the name of Rav Yosef: בית דין שמכרו בלא הכרזה נעשו כמי שטעה בדבר משנה וחוזרין – The judges of a Beis Din who sold the orphans property without a prior announcement are regarded as if they have erred about a law taught explicitly in a Mishnah, and they therefore retract their sale. When the Gemara challenges Ameimar from our Mishnah, which implies that if Beis Din sold property without a הכרזה, the sale is only voided if they erred in their valuation by a sixth, but if they were correct, the sale is valid even without a הכרזה, it brings three different answers. The first explanation is that Ameimar was dealing with things that we announce in advance of the sale, such as land, whereas our Mishnah is dealing with things which we do not announce, such as עבדים מטלטלין ושטרות – slaves, moveable property and shtaros regarding a debt. We do not announce the sale of slaves, שמא ישמעו ויברחו – lest they hear that they are about to be sold and run away, and we do not announce the sale of moveable property or shtaros, שמא יגנבו – lest they get stolen when on display at the public auction.
