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About drinks

שו”תCategory: Talmudic studyAbout drinks
asked 9 years ago

The Gemara states that drinking exactly is fraud, so I asked myself why drinking exactly? What is the probability that this will happen? If it were a question of drinking plus or minus, it would be clearer because then there would be no problem with probability, but right now, since it is drinking, there is such a problem. I would be happy to receive an answer that clarifies the intention of the Gemara.


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מיכי Staff answered 9 years ago
Hello. I think some line had to be drawn, and the sages found that the sixth is reasonable. It is true that it is an almost theoretical law. But it separates between a situation without fraud and a situation where the transaction is void. And in more detail: Originally, they wanted to establish two situations in the law of buying and selling: Situation A – the transaction is void and the money is returned (when the mistake is major), and Situation B – the transaction is valid (small mistake). As stated, they decided that the dividing line would be one-sixth. Now the question arises, what will be the ruling when the mistake is exactly one-sixth between the two categories (although it is unlikely that this will happen except in rare cases)? And naturally, they determined that it would be a compromise ruling between the two original situations: a drunkard bought and a fraudulently returned. According to my proposal, this is not a substantive law. The two important laws are on both sides of the line. The law on the line itself was established only to determine the dividing line. —————————————————————————————— Asks: The problem with this answer is that it appears from the Shekla Vetriya that the Gemara discusses the dividing line (shetut) as a real possibility.
Do you mean that the Gemara seriously discussed the extreme and unlikely case only out of curiosity/interest? It is possible, perhaps. But perhaps the choice of shut is not accidental. Perhaps the merchants at the time chose shut as a target profit, and from that the Gemara’s discussion of shut is derived.
kid, —————————————————————————————— Rabbi:
This is indeed a realistic possibility, but it is rare. There are quite a few halachic inquiries whose goal is to understand the matter and the halachah, not to apply it.
See David Assaf’s post here, and my response (and other responses) below:

http://onegshabbat.blogspot.co.il/2013/12/blog-post_6404.html

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