3,018. A Man Who Consecrates His Property and Then Divorces His Wife

Hilchos Arachin Vacharamin 7:17

If a man consecrates all of his property and then divorces his wife, leaving her to recoup the value of her kesubah from the one who redeems it, she can’t do so until the husband takes a vow prohibiting her to benefit from him. This is done out of concern that one might try to take advantage the Temple (i.e., that they’re conspiring to remarry and reacquire the property). We don’t say that if he so chose, he could claim to have consecrated his property in error and ask a Torah scholar to annul the consecration, returning the property to him.

Hilchos Arachin Vacharamin 7:18

Similarly, after a person consecrates his property, we don’t take his word if he claims to owe 100 zuz to person X or that a certain utensil belongs to person Y, again out of concern that he may be trying to take advantage of the Temple. Even if the lender has a promissory note, he can’t use it to recover property from the Temple. Rather, he must collect what he is owed like the other lenders, as we have discussed.