[Avodah] T'uM

[Zev Sero]

Richard Wolpoe wrote:

> Tangentially, this has implications for Hilchos Muktzeh on Shabbos
> E.G. if I have a bossis for muktzeh and non-muktzeh
> 
>    1. The non-muktzeh is a $5.00 Hallah
>    2. The Muktzeh is a  $10.00 Gold coin
> 
> Then the halacha is a no-brainer, i.e. the money is the ikkar and the 
> bossis is muktzehbecause the non-muktzeh is bottel..
> 
> But I have questioned whether $10.00 of our paper money as really being 
> worth more than the $5.00 Hallah.

Since the basis of muktzeh is how people regard things, the $10 note
is certainly worth more *to its owner* than the $5 challah.



> Paper Money is like pre-written checks. It has no intrinsic value, 
> other than the paper and the artwork, etc.

That is one possible way to see things (though as above, not for
hilchot muktzeh).  But the fact is that it's not like a cheque; it
does have intrinsic value, if only by the government's fiat.
A cheque is not money, it's merely a promise to pay money; and that
promise can be cancelled.  A note or a coin makes no sort of promise
at all; if you present a $10 note to the Treasury, all they'll give
you for it is two $5s.  Its value comes from the fact that the law
says that if you give it to your creditor the debts are cancelled,
and from the fact that everybody agrees to accept it.  The question
is to what extent halacha takes notice of this.


-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas