Study Kiddushin folio 26B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ולכתוב עליה פרוסבול, ולקנות עמה נכסים שאין להם אחריות. ואי אמרת בעינן צבורים, כל שהוא למאי חזי?
and if the debtor possesses land of any area the creditor can write a document that prevents the Sabbatical Year from abrogating an outstanding debt [prosbol] for it so that his loans will not be canceled in the 7th year, and he can acquire property that does not serve as a guarantee along with it. And if you say that we require the movable property to be piled on the land, for what is land of any size fit? What can be piled on a tiny spot of land?
תרגומא רב שמואל בר ביסנא קמיה דרב יוסף: כגון שנעץ בה מחט. אמר ליה רב יוסף: קבסתן! איכפל תנא לאשמועינן מחט? אמר רב אשי: מאן לימא לן דלא תלה בה מרגניתא דשוויא אלפא זוזי.
Rav Shmuel bar Bisna interpreted it before Rav Yosef as follows: For example: if one stuck a needle into a tiny patch of land, which he sold by means of the land, the needle is acquired. Rav Yosef said to him: You disgust me [kevastan]. Did the tanna go to all that trouble just to teach us that a needle can be acquired by means of land? Rav Ashi said: Who should say to us that he did not hang a pearl worth 1,000 dinars on the needle? One can acquire an item of high value through land of this size. In any event, the question of whether or not the movable property must be piled onto the land has not been resolved.
תא שמע, אמר רבי אלעזר: מעשה במדוני אחד שהיה בירושלים שהיו לו מטלטלין הרבה, וביקש ליתנם במתנה. אמרו לו: אין לו תקנה עד שיקנם על גבי קרקע. מה עשה? הלך ולקח בית סלע סמוך לירושלים, ואמר: ״צפוני זה לפלוני, ועמו מאה צאן ומאה חביות״, ומת, וקיימו את דבריו.
Come and hear, as R' Elazar said: There was an incident involving a certain Madonite [Madoni] who was in Jerusalem, as he had a great deal of movable property and wished to give it as a gift. He was ill and did not have time for the recipient to acquire the property by pulling. The rabbis said to him: One in this situation has no remedy but to transfer them by means of land. What did he do? He went and acquired a beit sela, apparently meaning land the size of a sela coin, near Jerusalem and said: This northern portion of the beit sela is given to so-and-so, and with it 100 sheep and 100 jugs. And the Madonite died, and the rabbis fulfilled his statement and gave the gifts.