Meilah 6:3-4

Meilah 6:3

Let’s say that a man gave his agent a prutah and told him to use half of it to buy lamps and half to buy wicks but the agent used all of it to buy either wicks or lamps, or if the man told the agent to use all of it to buy lamps or all of it to buy wicks but the agent spent half on lamps and half on wicks. In all of these cases, neither the man nor his agent is guilty of misappropriation (since each of them only misappropriated half a prutah). If the man told his agent to use half to buy lamps in place X and half to buy wicks in place Y but the agent did the opposite, then the agent is guilty of misappropriation.

Meilah 6:4

Let’s say that the man gave his agent two prutah and told him to buy an esrog. If the agent bought an esrog for one prutah and used the other to buy a pomegranate, then both of them are guilty of misappropriation. Rabbi Yehuda says that the man isn’t guilty of misappropriation because he will complain that he wanted a nice esrog (worth two prutah) and the agent brought him a small, inferior esrog. Let’s say that the man gave his agent a gold dinar and told him to buy a shirt. The agent bought a shirt for three sela and used the remaining three sela to buy a cloak. In this case, both of them are guilty of misappropriation. Rabbi Yehuda says that the man isn’t guilty of misappropriation because he will complain that he wanted a large garment and the agent brought him a small, inferior garment.