Purchasing Land

Shavua Tov. Sometimes Halachic matters are learned from what appears to be a simple story. In today’s Parsha, we learn of the purchase of מערת המכפלה. The Torah teaches that the cave was sold together with the adjacent field, together with the trees in the field, that surround its border. The Gemara in בבא בתרא teaches that certain details regarding the purchase of a field, can be learned from the Torah’s description of this sale. The Torah implies that regular trees are included in the sale. However, valuable trees, such as the חרוב, carob tree, and the סדן השקמה, a grafted sycamore tree, are not included in the sale, unless specifically specified. By mentioning the borders, we learn that an elevated or recessed border, that has trees growing on it, is also included in the sale. It is interesting how astute our sages were in applying principles of civil law, that were based on the Torah.