The topic of gifts made by persons who are not critically ill takes up many chapters in the Shulhan Aruch. I will in this lesson have just a few of the many halachot dealing with gifts that have not been included in the prior lessons, and should be of interest to the readers of Torah Tidbits. We are dealing only with gifts made by people who are not critically ill. The topic of gifts made by critically ill persons begins IYH with the next lesson.

Reuven, a person who is not critically ill, sends gifts from a faraway place with a messenger or by mail and writes that they should be divided among his children. (The actual word used in the codes is lebanai, sons. However, the term can also be used for "children".) The law is the same if he stated the gift should be divided among members of his household. They are to be given to both his sons and daughters. Those items that are more appropriate for males should be given to the sons. (The examples given are books, weapons for the males. I assume that nowadays books are just as appropriate for girls as for boys.) Those items more appropriate for females should be given to the daughters. In case of dispute, Beth Din should appoint a person to divide the articles depending on the age, interest, sex of the recipient and any other criteria Beth Din may determine. Since mores and styles change, such changes should be taken into account. Beth Din should also take into account the married or single status of the children; there are things that may more appropriate for the sons-in-law or daughters-in-law of the donor. Sons- and daughters-in-law are also considered children.

Reuven sends home articles without specifying for whom he intended the various articles. He did not specify that the articles were for his children as he did in the prior paragraph. If all of the articles are appropriate only for females, then they should be given to his daughters and daughters-in-law. It is reasonable for Beth Din to assume that the he sent the gift for the females only. If the gift is appropriate only for males, it is to be divided among the males only. There is an opinion that holds that if Reuven has a wife at home, the entire gift is for her, since he did not specify that the gift was for his children as he did in the prior paragraph.

One may legally renege on a promise to make a gift. However, if the gift that is promised is small enough that the promisee can reasonably expect that it will be given, if he reneges on the promise, the promisor will be known as a person lacking faith.

If the promised gift is a large gift, the promisee does not really expect that the gift will be given. Then, if the promisor reneges on the promise, the promisor is not known as a person lacking faith. Beth Din must determine what size gift leaves the promisee with the expectation that the gift will be fulfilled. They should take into account the economic situation of the donor, the donee, and the community.

If the promise is made to a poor person, whether the gift is small or large, the promise must be kept, since in such circumstances, it is deemed a vow.
A person should not promise a young child a gift if he has no intention to give it. The reason is that the child should not learn that people tell lies.

A Jew should not give a gift to a heathen unless he is friendly with him or for the purpose of maintaining peaceful relations with the surrounding heathens. There are many things that the Jew is instructed to do in order to live in peaceful surroundings with the non-Jewish neighbors, such as extending greetings to them, not stopping the poor heathen from picking up gleanings from the fields together with the Jewish poor, providing meals for the heathen poor, burying and eulogizing the heathen dead, visiting heathen mourners, visiting the heathen sick in hospitals (whether or not at the same time visiting Jewish sick), taking possession of lost items of heathens in order to protect the items for them, and other things that will promote better relations between the Jew and the heathen.

An exception is made in the case of a resident stranger to whom gifts may be given.
Reuven gives a gift to a married woman. Shulhan Aruch 249:3 states, "If one gives a gift to a slave or a married woman, the gift is acquired by the master or the husband respectively. A master acquires the principal but the husband acquires only the profits, but the principal remains hers in case she becomes widowed or divorced.

As explained in [Shulhan Aruch] Eben haEzer 85:4 - "If one writes that all of his belongings are given to his slave, he [the slave] acquires himself as a freeman as is explained in [Shulhan Aruch] Yoreh Deah 267. Her husband, Shimon, receives the use of the property, but the principal of the gift belongs to her and he will have full use of the principle should he divorce her or die before her.

Reuven states, "I give the following assets to Rachel [who is not married], and after her to Levi." Thereafter, Rachel marries Asher. The principal belongs to Asher, and Levi gets nothing when Rachel dies, since when Rachel married Asher, it was the equivalent to her selling the principal (as well as her other assets) to him. However, if Rachel was already married when Reuven made the gift, upon her death, the principal will go to Levi and not to her husband, unless she disposed of the principal to a stranger.

Reuven states, "I give the following assets to Shimon, and if Shimon violates a certain condition, the gift should be given to Levi, as of now." Thereafter, Levi assigns all his interest in the gift to Shimon and then dies. Even if Shimon then violates the condition, he will retain the principal by virtue of the assignment from Levi. This holds true even if Shimon violates the condition after he obtained the assignment from Levi. The reason is that Levi obtained the principal retroactively because Ruven had stated that the gift to Levi was ''as of now."

Rabbi Karo concludes the laws of gifts with the following statement: "it is a trait of perfectly righteous men not to accept any gifts but rather to put their trust in God that He will sufficiently provide for their needs as it is stated ‘But he that hates gifts shall live.’ (Proverbs 15:27)” The statement of Rabi Karo appears in all of the earlier and later codes.

The subject matter of this lesson is more fully presented in Volume VII Chapters 249 of"A Restatement of Rabbinic Civil Law" by E. Quint, published by Jason Aronson, Inc. and on sale at local Judaica bookstores.
Questions to quint@inter.net.il

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