Home -- Content: Series 7 (Laws) -- Translation: English -- Book: 1 (Tora) -- Part: 1 (Positive) -- Command: 116 -- Text
Previous Command -- Next Command
The Sharia of Moses in the TORA
Part 1 - The 248 Positive Commandments of the Tora
116 - VALUATION OF HOUSES
Maimonides says: “When a person redeems a thing devoted by him to the sanctuary, he must likewise add one fifth (Leviticus 27: 13; 15); the reason for this is plain. Man is usually selfish, and is naturally inclined to keep and save his property. He would therefore not take the necessary trouble in the interest of the sanctuary; he would not expose his property sufficiently to the sight of the valuer, and its true value would not be fixed. Therefore, the owner had to add one-fifth, whilst a stranger paid only the exact value. These rules were laid down in order that people should not despise that with which the name of God is connected, and which serves as a means of approaching God.”*