Verbal Agreements Sample Contracts
VERBAL AGREEMENTSVerbal Agreements • April 24th, 2023
According to halachah, payment alone does not finalize a transaction; another kinyan (method of completing a transaction) for instance hagbah - lifting up an item - is also necessary. Therefore, the beith din imposes a penalty upon someone who backs out of his agreement (even if he paid the agreed-upon sum) and demands that his money be returned.(1) The beith din (Rabbinical court) proclaimed that the actions of such a person parallel those of the generations of the Flood, of the Dispersion, of Sodom and of Egypt.(2) We may think these comparisons are somewhat extreme, for those generations were exceptionally evil, and God punished them severely. Why is reneging on one's word in a financial commitment identified with sins that warranted such severe punishments?