# Hefker beth-din hefker

Part of a series on :
Jews and Judaism :
Etymology
Who is a Jew? :
Religion
God in Judaism (names)
Principles of faith
Mitzvot (613)
Halakha
Shabbat
Holidays
Prayer
Tzedakah
Land of Israel
Brit
Bar and bat mitzvah
Marriage
Bereavement
Baal teshuva
Philosophy
Ethics
Kabbalah
Customs
Rites
Synagogue
Rabbi :
Texts
Tanakh
Torah
Nevi'im
Ketuvim
Talmud
Mishnah
Gemara
Rabbinic
Midrash
Tosefta
Targum
Beit Yosef
Mishneh Torah
Tur
Shulchan Aruch
Zohar :
History
General
Timeline
Land of Israel
Name "Judea"
Antisemitism
Anti-Judaism
Persecution
Leaders
Modern historiography
Historical population comparisons
Ancient Israel
Twelve Tribes of Israel
Kingdom of Judah
Kingdom of Israel
Jerusalem (in Judaism
timeline)
Temple in Jerusalem (First
Second)
Assyrian captivity
Babylonian captivity
Second Temple period
Yehud Medinata
Maccabean Revolt
Hasmonean dynasty
Sanhedrin
Schisms (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, Sicarii)
Second Temple Judaism (Hellenistic Judaism)
Jewish–Roman wars (Great Revolt, Diaspora, Bar Kokhba)
Rabbinic period and Middle Ages
Rabbinic Judaism
History of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire
Christianity and Judaism (Jews and Christmas)
Hinduism and Judaism
Islamic–Jewish relations
Middle Ages
Golden Age
Modern era
Haskalah
Sabbateans
Hasidism
Jewish atheism
Emancipation
Old Yishuv
Zionism
Soviet Union
The Holocaust
Israel
Arab–Israeli conflict :
Communities
Ashkenazim
Galician
Litvak
Mizrahim
Sephardim
Teimanim
Beta Israel
Gruzinim
Juhurim
Bukharim
Italkim
Romanyotim
Cochinim
Bene Israel
Berber
Related groups
Bnei Anusim
Lemba
Crimean Karaites
Krymchaks
Kaifeng Jews
Igbo Jews
Samaritans
Crypto-Jews
Anusim
Dönmeh
Marranos
Neofiti
Xueta
Mosaic Arabs
Subbotniks
Noahides :
Population
Judaism by country
Lists of Jews
Diaspora
Historical population by country
Genetic studies
Land of Israel
Old Yishuv
New Yishuv
Israeli Jews
Africa
Algeria
Angola
Bilad-el-Sudan
Botswana
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Benin
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Ethiopia
Eritrea
Eswatini
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Ivory Coast
Kenya
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Nigeria (Igbo)
Republic of the Congo
São Tomé and Príncipe
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Tanzania
Tunisia
Uganda (Abayudaya)
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Asia
Afghanistan
Bahrain
Cambodia
China
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kurdistan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lebanon
Malaysia
Mongolia
Myanmar
Nepal
Oman
Pakistan
Philippines
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
South Korea
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Syria
Tajikistan
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen
Europe
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czechia
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Moldova
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Spain
Sweden
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Northern America
Canada
United States
Greenland
Latin America and Caribbean
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Guyana
Haiti
Jamaica
Mexico
Paraguay
Peru
Puerto Rico
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela
Oceania
Australia
Fiji
Guam
New Zealand
Palau :
Denominations
Orthodox
Modern
Haredi
Hasidic
Reform
Conservative
Karaite
Reconstructionist
Renewal
Science
Haymanot
Humanistic :
Culture
Customs
Minyan
Wedding
Clothing
Niddah
Pidyon haben
Kashrut
Shidduch
Zeved habat
Conversion to Judaism
Aliyah
Hiloni
Music
Religious
Secular
Art
Ancient
Yiddish theatre
Dance
Humour
Cuisine
American
Ashkenazi
Bukharan
Ethiopian
Israeli
Israelite
Mizrahi
Sephardic
Literature
Israeli
Yiddish
Judeo-Tat
American :
Languages
Hebrew
Biblical
Yiddish
Yeshivish
Jewish Koine Greek
Yevanic
Judeo-Tat
Shassi
Judaeo-Iranian
Judaeo-Spanish
Judeo-Gascon
Ghardaïa Sign
Bukharian
Knaanic
Zarphatic
Judeo-Italian
Judaeo-Georgian
Judeo-Aramaic
Judeo-Arabic
Judeo-Berber
Judeo-Malayalam
Domari :
Politics
Jewish political movements
Autonomism
Bundism
Feminism
Leftism
Secularism
Territorialism
World Agudath Israel
Zionism
General
Green
Labor
Kahanism
Maximalism
Neo-Zionism
Religious
Revisionist
Post-Zionism :
Category
Portal :
vte :
Hefker beth-din hefker (alternative spelling: hefker beit din hefker; Hebrew: הפקר בית דין הפקר), "that which is declared by a court ownerless property (hefker) is forthwith accounted ownerless property", is a principle in Jewish religious law that stipulates the right of a Jewish court of law in what regards jus in re aliena (lit. "right to another person's property"). The principle is derived from an episode in the Book of Ezra, where Ezra the Scribe commanded the Jewish people to return to their former country, threatening to confiscate the property of anyone who refuses to go-up to the Land of Israel, after having lived in exile.
The principle appears in the Talmud, being derived from the Mishnah, as well as from the Hebrew Bible, according to which a court may transfer property from its owners without legal or formal justification, as it deems fit.
   Whosoever will not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his property will be confiscated, while he, himself, separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.

## Implications

This principle has far-reaching consequences, since it is possible to formally uproot things, making the new reality binding upon all parties, in so far as the Mosaic Law is concerned, by changing the monetary status of the thing in question. Not only does the court have the power to cancel ownership of property and chattels, but the court is also authorized to convey ownership of same property to a different party, such as an heirloom or the inheritance rights of one family being given by the court to another family, or money that was thought to belong to one man being given, at the decree of a Jewish court of law, as property to another man. For example, according to this approach, the expropriation of money given by a man for his wife's betrothals, if a Jewish court should decide to take this route, it can make the money with which the husband consecrated his wife null and void, in which case the betrothals were, in retrospect, of no force whatsoever, seeing as the woman was betrothed by money and did not belong to the man who assayed to betroth her. Thus, by the power vested unto the Sages of Israel by this law, they are able to change the standard laws of inheritance prescribed in the Law of Moses (henceforth: Torah).
There is a deliberate debate as to whether a court can transfer an object from one person to another, or whether it can only remove an object into a state of being ownerless. Another discussion is about whether an act of taking possession as enacted by the Sages of Israel and whose validity is derived only from a rabbinic ordinance is considered a valid act of acquisition in matters directly affecting a biblical law or injunction, in what concerns a court ruling property as ownerless, so that the same property may now be used to betroth a woman. Most rabbinic scholars hold the view that, although the principle is taken from the Book of Ezra, the ruling is tantamount to a ruling taken from the Torah.
The Shittah Mekubetzet explains that the court's power to dispense with a particular thing does not yet confer its ownership upon another. Rather, the court merely relinquishes the object from its first owners, and gives permission to another to acquire that object.
Based on this rule, Nissim of Gerona explained the possibility of judges who have not been ordained by rabbis that can trace a line of authority back to Moses as being able to engage partly in monetary matters. Rabbi Joseph Karo, citing the Tur, also permits a court to apply this principle whenever it deems it necessary to bring offenders into submission, even though the arbiters have not been ordained by the laying on of hands. While a court, under ordinary circumstances, has no power to uproot a prohibitive command from the Torah, except in cases where the intent is to bring instruction for a limited time only, in this case they are permitted to expropriate another's property without limitation, in order to instill correction where needed.
According to Maimonides, a court has the authority under Hefker beth-din hefker to fine a wicked husband, such that he pays to his wife the monies that he has pledged in her Ketubba, even before he divorces her, and even though he is still alive. Likewise, the court has the power to confiscate the property of a fellow Jew who abandoned his religion, and to give his property unto his law-abiding children. Such powers of the court do not require the judges to have been given semikhah in the classical sense.
This principle has also allowed others to justify the introduction of public regulations in Jewish communities, in terms of halacha. This justification was done by way of inference. First, the court has the ability to decide things that are not governed by a permanent law - the abandonment of property is just one example. Secondly, a court is an example of an institution that is agreed upon by the community and, hence, it can be said that the elected officials also meet this criterion and can therefore make an amendment to the Torah. That is, as long as they do not violate explicit prohibitions written in the Torah (excepting the provisions on monetary laws, which are permitted).

### Examples of the law's implementation

The Tosefta (Sheḳalim 1:1) makes note of an early practice in Israel where the Beth Din would once annually, on the 15th day of the lunar month Adar, send forth emissaries throughout the country to check for kilayim, "mixed kinds" growing in people's vineyards and fields, and where, if kilayim were found growing together in a field or vineyard, the field or vineyard would be accounted as ownerless property, permitting others to enter that field and vineyard and to remove its crop.