Responsa for Bava Metzia 208:17

אמר רבא חדא עיסקא ותרי שטרי פסידא דמלוה

for sesame. He sowed wheat instead, but the wheat appreciated to the value of sesame.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A sesame crop is more valuable than a wheat crop; on the other hand, it exhausts the soil more. But in this case, owing to an advance in the price of wheat, the crop lost nothing through the change, and there was the further profit that the soil was less exhausted than it would otherwise have been. ');">¹³</span> Now, R. Kahana thought to rule: He [the tenant] can make a deduction [from the percentage due] on account of the [diminished] impoverishment of the soil. But R. Ashi said to R. Kahana: People say, 'Let the soil become impoverished rather than its owner.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., he should have carried out his contract and not jeopardised the owner's receipts. He therefore cannot make a deduction now. ');">¹⁴</span> A certain man once leased a field for sesame. He sowed wheat, however, but the wheat subsequently exceeded the sesame in value. Now, Rabina thought to rule that he [the lessor] must give him [the tenant] the increased value.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., that the lessor receives his percentage only on the potential sesame crop. ');">¹⁵</span> Said R. Aha of Difti to Rabina: Was he [the tenant] the only cause of the higher value, and the earth not at all?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Both contributed, hence both share. ');">¹⁶</span> The Nehardenas said: An <i>'iska</i><span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Glos. ');">¹⁷</span> is a semi loan and a semi trust, the Rabbis having made an enactment which is satisfactory to both the debtor and the creditor.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., half the capital value of the stock is a pure loan for which the trader bears full responsibility; the other half is a bailment, so that the investor bears all risks of depreciation. To avoid the charge of usury, however, the trader generally received two — thirds of the profit. V. supra 68b. ');">¹⁸</span> Now that we say that it is a semi loan and a semi trust, if he [the trader] wishes to drink beer therewith [i.e., for the loan part] he can do so.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., he need not use it for business at all. ');">¹⁹</span> Raba said: [No.] It is therefore called '<i>iska</i> [business] because he can say to him, 'I gave it to you for trading, not for drinking beer.' R. Idi b. Abin said: And if he [the trader] dies, it ranks as movable property in the hands of his children.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The half which is a loan is counted as movable chattels, which are not subject to seizure for debt from the heirs. Hence the investor loses it. ');">²⁰</span> Raba said: It is therefore called '<i>iska</i>, that if he dies, it shall not rank as movable property in the hands of his heirs.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., it is permanent trading stock, and therefore always available for the satisfaction of the investor's claims. ');">²¹</span> Raba said: If there is one '<i>iska</i> and two bonds, it is to the investor's disadvantage.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As stated supra 68b, the investor generally received a third of the profits, but stood half the losses. Now, if he invests two bales of goods and draws up one bond: if there is a loss upon one and a profit upon the other, it is all counted as one investment, and he receives a third of the net profit upon both. But if he draws up a separate instrument for each, he bears half of the loss incurred on one, and receives only a third of the profit earned on the other, and so is at a disadvantage. ');">²²</span>

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