A seller offers land for 100 if paid now, or 120 if paid in six months. Is this permitted?
Increasing the price of a sale item for delayed payment is avak ribbit — courts enforce only the immediate-payment price.
Question 2
Why is pre-purchasing unripe orchard fruit forbidden?
The low current price compensates for waiting until harvest — making the discount interest for the extension of time. The fruit has yet to develop its value.
Question 3
What makes 'Iron Flock' (tzon barzel) a forbidden arrangement?
In tzon barzel, the owner is 'near profit, far from loss' — the classic forbidden structure where risk falls entirely on one party.
Question 4
Field watchmen are promised cheap grain from the harvest. To avoid interest problems, what must they do?
By doing work at the grain heap on the collection day, their wage is earned at that moment — eliminating the structure of 'loan repaid cheaply later.'
Question 5
A person sells wine for double the current price, contingent on the buyer bearing risk only if it spoils after the sale (not while still with seller). Is this permitted?
When the buyer accepts genuine risk (loss from spoilage, theft or inability to resell), the arrangement is balanced — permitted as a legitimate commercial transaction.