<div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><<In Jewish law, the concept of yei'ush ba'alim ['owner's despair']</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">     applies also to real estate. [That is, the owner of a stolen tract</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">     of land forfeits his ownership if he gives up hope of ever retrieving </span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">it.]</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">On the contrary, karka einah nigzeles. The land remains his not only after</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">he gives up hope, but even after his descendants no longer even remember</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">that </span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">he ever owned it. >></span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Independent of this discussion (on areivim)  a review of the halachot of yeush on land</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">taken in part from a recent article of Rav Ariel in Techumim.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">1) It is a mchloket Yerusalmi and Bavli if there is yeush on land that no</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">one remembers who the originals owners are. SA paskens like the Bavli that</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">there is no yeush on land even in this case</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">2) Radvaz (1:514)paskens that dina demalchuta dina and so anyone who has a</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">"michtuv" (I assume something similar to Tabu) is the legal owner of the</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">land</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">The Chida *Birchei Yosef OC 649) brings a smag (aseh 133) that for maaserot</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">the goyim own the land by virtue of kibush</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Sefer Hatrumah also states that a goy can have kinyan on land through kibush</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Rav Ariel adds his remark that of course this not negate the promise to</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Avraham and sefer Haterumah is only talking about terumot and maaserot.(</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Hence, even though individual plots can legally belong to a goy</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">nevertheless holy sites cannot be given away.)</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Rav Ariel concludes that if buildings were built on land that everyone</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">assumed were ownerless and it was found that some Arabs indeed had title to</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">the land that one has to pay the Arabs for their land as it is legally</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">their's and not assumed to be stolen.</span><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><font color="#000099" face="'comic sans ms', sans-serif">Eli Turkel</font></div>

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