Bava Kamma 7: Negotiating Superior Land; Maintaining Social Strata

The Gemara follows the rabbis' arguments regarding the payments of a debtor.  We have learned that damages are paid with a person's superior-quality, or best-quality land.  Land can also be categorized as intermediate quality or inferior quality.  In fact we learn that land is used only when payment through money is not possible.

But what if conditions make it difficult to sell one's land?  And what if the person receiving payment for damages would prefer the intermediate land -- but perhaps a bit more?  The rabbis teach us that land is generally priced at its highest in the month of Nisan, and at its lowest in the month of Tishrei.  This is because people would prefer to buy land that is about to yield a full crop.  In Tishrei, the land has missed its opportunity to be readied for harvesting the following year.  Is it reasonable to ask a person to see his/her land at such a low price?  And what if the land won't sell?  What if people mutually agree upon rules that are different from those set out by Torah law?

The rabbis think of everything.  Seriously, almost everything.  They create guidelines and rules to help people determine when to sell low, when to sell high, when to eat of the poor man's tithe because one is what today we call "house poor," and when a person should not take from that charitable offering.  They speak about how to appraise land, and whether it should be compared to other land belonging to the owner or to other fields in the world.  They consider whether or not an arrangement is truly the will of both parties, or whether something is being done against one's will.  They consider what to do if land has depreciated or appreciated in value and how debtors might consider the paths to their most sustainable futures.

It does seem like that there is an underlying bias toward keeping those with more means close to their money.  Those who are poor are poor, and they should be cared for, but no extra attempts should be made to help them become wealthy.  Certainly not wealthy enough to move into a different social class.  Similarly, the rabbis decided that ketubot are collected from inferior quality land.  Thus women who might have had the opportunity to rise in social status when divorced are not left bereft, but will continue to struggle with property that is worth little.

This makes sense.  In today's western world, we believe that anyone can do anything.  Success is about effort and some luck.  However, the rabbis wanted to maintain and not to disrupt the social strata of their world.  They believed that their interpretations of Torah would last across time and place, as Torah law should last across time and place.  Lauding the equalization of opportunities is a modern concept.  For much longer, human beings have  believed that we are born into our roles and that our success is in how we perform in those roles.

We learn that when a debtor has superior, intermediate and inferior quality land, damages are collected from the superior quality land, creditors collect from the intermediate quality land, and women collect their ketubot from the inferior quality land.  If the debtor has only superior and intermediate quality land, both creditors and ex-wives collect from the intermediate quality land.  If he has only intermediate and inferior quality land, damages and creditors use the intermediate quality land while women collect from inferior quality land.