Chapter 1 · Or LeArba'ah Asar

Landlord and Tenant

Lesson 3 of 68 26 min

Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak was asked who must search and answers from a baraita.

Lesson goals

01Read the question put to him.
02Read the mezuzah comparison and its rejection.
03Read the baraita and the keys criterion.

Source and decoding

Pesachim 4a

תנינא: המשכיר בית לחבירו, אם עד שלא מסר לו מפתחות חל ארבעה עשר — על המשכיר לבדוק, ואם משמסר לו מפתחות חל ארבעה עשר — על השוכר לבדוק

We learned: One who rents a house to his fellow, if the fourteenth arrived before he handed over the keys, the landlord must search; if after he handed over the keys, the tenant must search.

Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak was asked who must search and answers from a baraita. The criterion he cites is the handing over of the keys and not mere ownership. The comparison to mezuzah is set aside because mezuzah is the obligation of the resident. So what counts here is who actually holds the house on the fourteenth.

Building the reasoning

1Read the question put to him.
2Read the mezuzah comparison and its rejection.
3Read the baraita and the keys criterion.

Practice

Analyze: Reuven rented out an apartment and the keys were handed over on the thirteenth. Who searches according to the baraita?

Lesson wrap-up

The keys were handed over before the fourteenth, so the tenant must search. This is a thinking exercise and not a practical ruling.

Check your understanding

Test yourself before marking the lesson complete.

Question 1 of 1

Who searches if the keys were handed over before the fourteenth?

Original explanations and translations: Bonei Atalmud. Excerpts were checked against the site’s Gemara text. Explanations and exercises have not undergone rabbinic review and are not halakhic rulings.

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