Pisqa’ 295¹

1

“So that you may extend your days” (Dt.25:15).

This is one of those commandments of the Torah

for which the reward is specified along side it.

But isn’t this a matter of simple logic?

Just as [an honest weight for] a dried fig-cake,

weighing only one-hundredth of an ‘issar,²

is rewarded by the Torah with length of days,

all the more so, should length of days be

[the reward] for other commandments

involving financial sacrifice.

2

“For all who do these things are abominable to HASHEM” (Dt.25:16)—

Is it possible to say that

one is not liable until he transgresses all of them?

The Teaching states:

“All who do these things” (Dt.25:16)—

he is liable for transgressing even one of them.

“All who act perversely” (Dt.25:16)—

On this basis they taught:

One does not blend produce [of different batches]—

even fresh with old [of the same type].

Not even a se’ah’s-worth, at a dinar,

should be blended with

a se’ah’s-worth [of finer produce] at a dinar and a tressis ,³

[and the blend] is for sale [on discount] at a dinar per se’ah.⁴

3

“All who act perversely” (Dt.25:16)—

[such a person] is called by five names:

Condemned, Abominable, Hateful,

Disgusting and Perverted.⁵

1. H:286;JN2:263-264.
2. A negligible sum.
3. A coin of little value. See Jastrow, s.v., tereisis (= three ases)..
4. //T.BM.3:26; //M.BM.4:11. The point is that even if a normally deceptive merchandising practice yields a loss to the merchant, the practice is nevertheless proscribed, lest cynicism affect the market.
5. // Sifra, qedoshim, per.4:1. Cf. Pisqa’ot 148.4, 226.3.