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The first 5 Mishnayot of this perek continue with the theme of, "so what's included?" Unlike in the last perek when the questions were about what's included - or not - in real estate sales, here the questions are about what's included in the sale of things like animals, boats, the bees in a beehive, and trees. (Remember the movie "Batteries Not Included"?) A few points that caught my attention:
(1) At the end of Mishna 1 Rabbi Yehuda puts forth the reasonable (to me) seeming suggestion that what's included or not can be inferred from the purchase price, but the Sages refuse to allow such unspoken messages to be entered into consideration. (Rabbi Yehuda makes a similar argument form visual context at the end of Mishna 2.)
(2) Mishna 3 is a case in which I agree to sell you the guppies that will be born to me in the coming year. It is considered implicit that I will be retaining at least one breeding pair, as I'd like to continue breeding guppies in the future!
(3) Mishna 5 applies this "what's included" discussion to cuts of meat in a butcher shop. You'll have to think back to the days when meat didn't come on a styrofoam dish covered by cellophane, already weighed and priced!
Mishna 6 makes a distinction between cases in which there is an obvious discrepancy in what the seller and buyer believed the quality of a product to be (in these cases the disappointed party alone can declare the sale null and void), and cases in which there seems to have been a reasonable misunderstanding about the precise nature of the product being sold, in which case either party can nullify the sale.
Mishna 7 highlights the actual physical mechanisms that ultimately effect a sale. In Halacha, the transfer of money between buyer and seller is not the mechanism that makes the sale official. Rather, reflecting common understanding and practice at the time, a physical act of acquisition was necessary to seal the deal. Mishna 8 describes the moment at which the sale of liquids such as oil or wine was deemed completed.
Mishna 9 discusses the interesting case of when a child is sent to the store by his or her parent. Should it be assumed that the child is merely there to place the parent's order, or rather that the child is expected (by the parent) to conduct the monetary transaction and to bring the product - and the change - home. Hanging in the balance is whether the merchant is responsible if he in fact transacts with the child, sends him home with the product, and something gets lost or broken on the way home!
Mishnayot 10 and 11 discuss one of the requirements implicit in the Torah's command that we maintain fair and accurate weights and measures. The implicit requirement is that all of the weighing equipment be washed off with some regularity to remove any buildup of residue that would result in the customer being shortchanged. This requirement is easy to understand especially when sticky things like oil are being weighed on the scale. Of special interest is the requirement set forth in Mishna 11 that the seller must always assume some amount of residue and resultant shortchanging, and therefore add to the weight being sold to the customer! Honest weights and measure is worth being machmir on!
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