
Does a Person with a Cochlear Implant Have the Halachic Status of “Cheresh”?
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Rav Baruch Fried
Question: One of the people who is considered by halacha to be unable to participate in commerce is a “cheresh”. I have a business partner who is deaf and hears through a cochlear implant. Does he have the status of a cheresh?
Answer: Generally, this question is not so relevant because just like there is a takanah of Chazal that a child who understands commerce can engage in business transactions, so too, Chazal enacted that a cheresh who understands commerce can be involved in business. The one exception, however, is real estate. A true cheresh cannot engage in property transactions.
If someone with a cochlear implant is involved with real estate, we would have to determine if he is considered a cheresh.
Acharonim have long dealt with the question of someone who is technically a cheresh yet is obviously smart and acclimated. As a rule, they are hesitant to say definitively that such a person can ever have the status of a pikeach.
In other areas of halacha, if someone cannot hear but he can speak, many Rishonim say that he is considered a pikeach according to halacha. Again, however, they say that real estate is an exception and he cannot engage in transactions involving property.
Rav Moshe Feinstein has a teshuva about a person who can speak but cannot hear at all without the aid of a machine (similar to a cochlear implant). He says that such a person is in the category of a medaber v’aino shomea, he can speak but cannot hear, which renders him a regular bar daas for all matters with the exception of doing commerce with real estate.
This means that even if the person understands real estate very well, he technically still has the status of a cheresh and he cannot sell or buy properties. Essentially, an apotropus would have to be appointed to manage his transactions on his behalf. The laws of who can and cannot be an apotropus are complex but if he has a business partner, that partner might become his de-facto executor and make deals for him.
Even without an apotropus, if a cheresh does sell karkah, the deal is valid as long as no one protests. If the parties are worried that someone may protest at some point in the future and negate the deal, they should technically have an apotropus appointed to mitigate this concern.
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Business Halacha Daily — Does a Person with a Cochlear Implant Have the Halachic Status of “Cheresh”?. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
Welcome to the Basavad's Business Halal Khadali in conjunction with Yeruchha. Today, I am joined by her at Bargfried Dain at the Basavad and General Editor of the Yeruchha project. We will talk about the categories of people who are termed as not having thus. And like you mentioned, Khayshai to the cotton. Let's talk about, let's focus on Khaysh. He's a fellow as a partner and he wants to know. He's a his partner. He's the heavy lifter in this partnership. He has, he's the brains behind operation. But he, like there, he has, you know, he has a cochlear implant. He's a Khaysh. Is he considered a Khayshai to be caught on in the rules of commerce that he doesn't have thus? It's a sensitive question. Generally, it's not really a relevant question.
Because even if he technically would be a Khaysh, as far as Mekh Khomemker, that same Takhana that said that children who reach puhutais could be engaged in Mekh Khomemker. So it included in that as a Khaysh. She's a Khaysh Reimah's Venerables. It's a mission in Githin. That Khaysh can do commerce, can engage in commerce. Just by hinting, by, you know, by showing what he wants, as long as it's clear what it is that he doesn't want. So Khaysh could be involved in Mekh Khomemker, but the normal exception that it's only from the top of it. But after Khaysh, for real estate, it's not considered a valid. So generally, as long as the, the discussion is going to be movable items, so then we don't even, you know, it doesn't really matter. Without doing a real estate, so then we have to figure out who, you know, who is this guy? So over the, the acronym for, for many years, we're dealing with the issue of, you have a Khaysh who's very with the program. So Khaysh said that has to do with the Khaysh, she was about it. They pretty much say that if he cannot speak, he's a Khaysh, he's a deaf mute, but he's very with the program.
They're very hesitant to say that he has a look like a piquech. At best they consider myself a piquech. They've got the kadooshin, they've got these things. They best consider myself a piquech, and they'll not consider him a vadae to be a regular person. As far as someone who can speak, a medabra of a in a shemaah, so they're, according to many Rishaynam, he has a look like a piquech. But again, with the normal exception, it comes to the Khaysh. They're very clear, they're very clear, they're very famous, but that someone who's a medabra of a in a shemaah, cannot say a Khaysh. So, Ramesh has a truth about this, specifically about somebody who is, he can speak, and he cannot hear at all. If you can scream at his ears and he hears that's already a shemaah. But if you cannot hear at all, he only hears with a machia, like the cochlear implant type of concept, he has no sense of hearing without the machine, with the machine he could hear. Ramesh does a chit-chat, he's considered a medabra of an in a shemaah. He can speak, but he's considered an in a shemaah since you need the machine in order to make him hear.
That's not considered hearing, says a machia. He says he's considered a piquech, like I'll be everything, with the exception of commerce. And it comes to a macro-local real estate, it's not binding. So, we're kind of putting it back into a situation where this person, he's very good at what he does. And you could tell that he understands what he's doing, but yet, technically, he's like a Khaysh who cannot sell real estate. So, what would happen there? So, they're really would be best in his job to appoint an opatropist, who can do his, manage his real estate. So, the help of the opatropist is complex, who exactly takes the role of an opatropist, but over here, he himself can have his partner be his opatropist. He can, you know, he can, he can, it's a kind of called the assembler of his son, who if you send him, move in with somebody, then that person comes to the opatropist. So, if he has someone signing off on his deals, then that'll be valid, that'll, that'll, that'll, that'll consummate all the deals. Even if he doesn't, so, we have a concept of a cotton who sold Khaysh, as long as nobody says anything, that everything will be fine. It's not considered a gazelle and, and, and everything, as long as no one is mych. So, it's, it's, it's not like a major risk, because people don't view this as anything wrong.
So, everything will, commerce will just go on, everything will be fine. If he's worried that, at some point, somebody's going to wake up and say, well, he was a Khaysh, and therefore I want to undo the deal that we did, or something like that. So, just make sure someone, he, a, a technical opatropist signs off on it, and then he'll vote any proverbs. If you enjoyed this video, and would like to receive more like it, or to sponsor future videos, please click the link below, or visit basehavead.org.
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