Q&A: Backing Out of Giving Away an Item in a WhatsApp Group — Is It Permitted?
Backing Out of Giving Away an Item in a WhatsApp Group — Is It Permitted?
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I bought a 7.5-meter irrigation hose, but it turned out not to be suitable. The reason I bought it was that the spray head on the existing irrigation hose (15 meters) had broken, and it was necessary to lift it in order to stop the flow of water.
I posted in the moshav WhatsApp groups that I was giving away the new hose with the new head. Afterward I thought that I could simply replace the new head with the old head, and give away the new hose together with the old head. I did indeed make the switch, and I asked for the group message to be updated, but at that exact moment someone arrived to take the new hose with the old head.
I apologized to him and explained the problem, and he took the hose anyway.
My question is: from a halakhic standpoint, was I allowed to change my mind as long as the hose had not yet actually been picked up, and did I act properly given that I had not yet managed to post the message that the irrigation head had been replaced with the old one?
Answer
You were giving it to him as a gift, right? So what’s the problem? You didn’t obligate yourself, and you didn’t transfer ownership of anything.
Discussion on Answer
That’s not any kind of acquisition. True, if there’s no reason, it’s not proper to back out, because he already relied on it. But you don’t need to incur a loss because of that. His life does not take precedence over yours.
I thought that since he came especially on the basis of what I wrote in the message, that already counts as some kind of acquisition.