Aveiros for Sale - An Halachic Analysis
Aveiros for Sale - An Halachic Analysis
By: Rav Yisroel Yitzchak Meisels
You may have heard of people selling their chometz before Pesach to get rid of it, making a Pruzbul before Shemitah, or using a Heter Mechirah for a business that is open on Shabbos. But how about selling your aveiros before Yom Kippur to get rid of them?
Before dismissing this as too ridiculous to even discuss, such sales actually happened. The status of these sales was subsequently brought before great rabbonim of the time, who addressed the matter. In fact, this happened more than once, as is evident from the Maharsham, (§3:151), as well as another story recorded in a teshuvah of the Machaneh Chaim, from Rav Chaim Sofer, Dayan in Munkatch (C. M. §2:20).
The Maharsham was asked the following question: Someone sold his aveiros to another Yid for a substantial sum of money. Is the transaction valid or not?
Let us examine this sale from two perspectives: first, from a technical perspective, according to the principles of Choshen Mishpat, and then from the spiritual perspective.
The sale gets off to a rocky start on both counts: What exactly is being sold, and how is it being sold? Firstly, the seller is the one receiving money for the buyer to take his aveiros. Normally, of course, the buyer pays money to acquire an item; here, the arrangement is seemingly the opposite.
The Maharsham points out that since this is a "heavenly" matter, perhaps the normal requirements of a formal kinyan do not apply. Perhaps a firm commitment is sufficient.
There is another problem with the merchandise itself. Aveiros are not a tangible asset. They are a davar sheein bo mamash—something without physical substance—which ordinarily cannot be sold.
This is why the Netziv, in his sefer Meishiv Davar, invalidates a similar sale: there is nothing tangible being transferred from one person to another, and therefore there is no conventional object upon which a kinyan can take effect.
However, the Maharsham points out that in his case there was a handshake, which constitutes situmta. According to some poskim, even a davar sheein bo mamash can be acquired through situmta.
But there is a condition for situmta: it must be a recognized and accepted business practice. The Maharsham notes that this type of transaction is certainly not a common form of commerce.
The Maharsham therefore offers a novel approach to validate the transaction through the concept of arvus, or guarantorship. Perhaps, by accepting the money, the person cannot formally transfer the aveiros themselves, but he can accept upon himself liability in place of the other person—similar to the concept of accepting responsibility for someone else's debt.
So, from a purely technical perspective, we have found a possible mechanism through which such a transaction may have validity.
But there is a much more fundamental question: Does a person even have the ability to transfer his aveiros to someone else?
The Machaneh Chaim points out that the Ramban, in his commentary on Chumash, explains that the punishment of kareis results from the spiritual damage caused by the aveirah remaining within a person's soul. If so, perhaps the aveirah is not merely an obligation or liability that can be transferred to someone else. It is something that has actually happened to the person and has affected his very soul.
On the other hand, we do find the concept of one person accepting upon himself the punishment that was destined for someone else.
The Gemara in Kiddushin (31b) discusses the practice of a son saying Hareni kaparas mishkavo when mentioning his deceased father. Rashi explains that the son is saying, in effect, that he wishes to accept upon himself the punishment that would otherwise have come upon his father. This halachah is brought down in the Shulchan Aruch, (Y. D. 240:9).
Furthermore, both the Maharsham and the Machaneh Chaim cite the Gemara in Maseches Shabbos, where Yitzchak Avinu says to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, in effect, "Half of the Yidden's aveiros I take upon myself."
So there certainly seems to be a concept whereby one person can accept the punishment of another.
Nevertheless, as one might have suspected, neither the Maharsham nor the Machaneh Chaim concludes that there is an easy way out of one's aveiros simply by selling them. They both invalidate a blanket sale of one's aveiros. Nevertheless we still need to reconcile these conflicting statements we find in Chazal.
To gain some clarity on this subject, let us switch gears for a moment to a seemingly related concept: selling mitzvos.
We find a dispute among the poskim as to whether a person can sell his mitzvos.
The Rema discusses the concept of Yissachar-Zevulun, in which one partner supports a person who learns Torah and receives a share in the reward for that Torah learning.
Yet the Imrei Binah (Shu"t §1:3) points out that there is a teshuvah of the Maharam Alashkar (§101), citing Rav Hai Gaon, which seems to indicate otherwise. Although the supporter receives reward for enabling the Torah learning, the actual sechar for the Torah learning itself belongs to the person who toiled in it.
How do we reconcile these seemingly conflicting approaches?
The Imrei Binah offers a beautiful explanation. Chazal tell us, "Sechar mitzvah mitzvah, u'sechar aveirah aveirah"—the reward of a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself, and the punishment of an aveirah is the aveirah itself.
This can be understood to mean that when a person performs a mitzvah, he does not merely earn an external reward. The mitzvah itself has a spiritual effect upon him. It changes the person, purifies his soul, connects him to ruchniyus, and brings him closer to Hashem.
Likewise, an aveirah does not merely create a future punishment. The aveirah itself damages the person spiritually.
According to the Imrei Binah, there are therefore two aspects to the reward of a mitzvah. There is the reward that a person receives for having performed the mitzvah, and there is the mitzvah itself—the spiritual transformation and connection to ruchniyus that resulted from his own actions.
The first aspect can be transferred. This is the aspect of reward that the Rema is discussing in Yissachar-Zevulun.
But the actual spiritual effect of the mitzvah—the purification and elevation that resulted from the person's own avodah—cannot simply be transferred to someone else. This is what the Maharam Alashkar, in the name of Rav Hai Gaon, is expressing.
In light of this, we can perhaps understand the matter of Yitzchak Avinu as well. Although Yitzchak could accept upon himself the punishment that was destined for others, that does not mean that the spiritual damage caused by an aveirah could simply be removed from the sinner's soul and transferred elsewhere.
The punishment may, in some sense, be assumed by another person. But the damage that the aveirah itself caused remains with the sinner and must be repaired through the darchei hateshuvah—the proper paths of repentance.
In conclusion, will the sale be valid? According to this approach, the seller would still bear the full consequence of the aveirah, but it could potentially affect some minor aspect of the punishment. While according to the Machaneh Chaim's approach, the sale is completely null and void.
And there is an additional problem: the sale itself may be an aveirah.
The Maharsham points out that someone who agrees to purchase another person's aveiros gives the appearance that he does not take the consequences of aveiros seriously. If he truly understood the gravity of sin and its punishment, why would he be willing to "buy" someone else's aveiros?
And for the seller, the Machaneh Chaim raises an additional concern. Trying to arrange for someone else to suffer in one's place is wrong in its own right, and besides, the idea of selling one's sins can resemble practices found among other religions, in which people would pay religious figures to take away or absolve their sins. By doing so, one gives the appearance, chalilah, of following such practices. But that is not the Torah's approach. The Torah gives us a different path: Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Tzedakah.
It is through these that a person cleanses himself from his aveiros and removes the spiritual stain that they have left upon his soul. ■
