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Is chalipin (barter-exchange) a form of kesef (monetary acquisition)? The shiur tackles a profound contradiction in Rabbeinu Tam—here saying chalipin is not kesef, in Sefer HaYashar saying it is—and resolves it by drawing a fundamental distinction: kesef can mean either a mechanical exchange or a symbolic act showing commitment. Chalipin works midoras kesef in the latter sense, even with an object worth less than a shaveh perutah.
This advanced Gemara (גמרא) shiur on Kiddushin 3a-b wrestles with a formidable contradiction in Rabbeinu Tam's rulings on kinyan chalipin (barter-acquisition). Rabbeinu Tam in Tosafos (תוספות) appears to hold that the maskana (conclusion) of the Gemara is that chalipin is not kesef, and that one is not goris (adopts the textual reading) "pach mishevu pruta lemachana nafshei" (less than a shaveh perutah to acquire oneself). Yet in Sefer HaYashar, brought by the Rosh in Gittin, Rabbeinu Tam explicitly rules that chalipin IS kesef, that he IS goris lemachana nafshei, and that even an eved Kena'ani can go free with chalipin of a kli pach mishevu pruta—not midoras kesef, but midoras chalipin, which he treats as functionally equivalent. The shiur calls this "mamash an unbelievable stirah" (contradiction). The shiur methodically lays out additional difficulties. The Rashba holds that a kli pach mishevu pruta (a utensil worth less than a shaveh perutah) works for kiddushin midoras kesef because any utensil inherently has the value of a shaveh perutah. Tosafos, however, seems to say from our Gemara that such a kli does NOT have the value of a shaveh perutah. Rashi (רש"י)'s language also presents problems: Rashi says "beloshon chalipin" (in the language of chalipin), but the discussion is about hilchos kinyanim (the laws of acquisition), not linguistic forms. The Rashash corrects Rashi's text to read "midoras" instead of "beloshon," but even so, the conceptual difficulty remains.
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Kiddushin 3a-b
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