Rabbi Tzedek’s family had gathered for Shabbos to celebrate the aufruf of his son, Zvi.
On Shabbos morning, the gabbai called the chassan up to the Torah: “Ya’amod, ya’amod, ya’amod hechassan Zvi ben Harav Meir, maftir.”
When Zvi concluded the final blessings of the haftarah, the shul began singing “Od yishama…” and showered him with candies. The children scrambled about the bimah, collecting as many candies as they could grab and stuffing them into their bulging pockets.
Near the bimah stood Mr. Cohen. One candy landed on a fold in his tallis.
“Abba, there’s a candy on your tallis!” exclaimed his son, Aharon. “Could you please give it to me?”
Meanwhile, another boy, Bentzi, saw the candy and grabbed it from the tallis.
“Thief!” cried out Aharon. “That’s our candy!”
“Please give the candy to Aharon,” Mr. Cohen said to Bentzi.
“But I got it first,” said Bentzi. “Why should I give it to him?”
“I intended to acquire the candy while it was on my tallis,” replied Mr. Cohen. “So it was already ours.”
“How did you acquire it?” asked Bentzi. “It was just sitting on your tallis and was going to fall off anyway. I could have picked it up afterward from the ground.”
“I see we have a sharp little talmid chacham (Torah scholar) in the making,” said Mr. Cohen. “Sounds like a case for Rabbi Tzedek.”
After davening, Mr. Cohen went with Bentzi to wish Rabbi Tzedek mazel tov.
“We’ve also got a case for you,” added Mr. Cohen. “Bentzi and I have a dispute over one of the candies that were thrown.” He related what had happened.
“Even though the candy landed on Mr. Cohen’s tallis,” ruled Rabbi Tzedek, “Bentzi is legally entitled to keep the candy.”
“Why is that?” asked Mr. Cohen.
“Candies that were thrown have the status of hekfer, ownerless property,” explained Rabbi Tzedek. “It is necessary to make a valid kinyan (act of acquisition) to acquire them. Although the candy fell on your tallis, no kinyan was made until Bentzi picked it up.”
“Why doesn’t the fact that the candy fell on my tallis serve as a kinyan?” asked Mr. Cohen. “I learned that a person’s vessels (keilim) can acquire for him.”
“That is correct,” replied Rabbi Tzedek. “A person’s vessels acquire for him wherever he has permission to leave them, such as in his own property or in a semipublic area - but not in a fully public area, where he has no right to leave them. Once an item falls into his vessel, it is as if he picked it up or it was placed in his house (C.M. 200:3; Pischei Choshen, Kinyanim 8:7[18]).
“Similarly, the Gemara (Gittin 78a) teaches that if a man threw a get (divorce document) into his wife’s lap or in her basket, she is divorced, if the basket was in a place where she was allowed to leave it (E.H. 139:10).”
“Why isn’t falling on the tallis considered like falling into a basket?” asked Mr. Cohen.
“The basket must be a container that has an interior (see C.M. 273:13; P.C. 8:[19]),” explained Rabbi Tzedek. “Therefore, falling on the tallis is not considered falling into a basket. Even if the candy fell into a fold in the tallis, it is not considered an interior, since the fold is of no permanent form and anything can easily slide off (see E.H. 139:15).”
“What if the candy had fallen into a pocket or tallis bag?” asked Mr. Cohen.
“That would be considered like falling into a basket, since it has an interior. However, it must be in a place where you are allowed to leave it, such as at your seat - but not, for example, in the aisle of the shul near the bimah, where you have no right to leave it (see Avnei Miluim, E.H. 30:8).”
“So the candy’s mine,” brightened Bentzi.
“Yes,” said Rabbi Tzedek with a laugh. “But I see that your pockets are already overstuffed, so it might be nice to give the candy to Aharon anyway.”