Bais HaVaad on the Parsha, Parshas Ki Savo

Boundless 

August 27, 2026

Excerpted and adapted from a shiur by Dayan Yitzhak Grossman

Accursed is one who moves the boundary of his fellow…

Dvarim 27:17

This curse of the masig gvul refers to an issur in Parshas Shoftim: “You shall not move a boundary of your fellow…” (Dvarim 19:14).

The Sifri lists four acts that are included in hasagas gvul.

• The first, cited by Rashi and the Ramban, is expanding one’s property in Eretz Yisrael by moving back his neighbor’s boundary. The Sifri explains that this form of hasagas gvul was already prohibited under gzeilah, and the separate prohibition imposes an additional lav upon the transgressor.
• The second is uprooting the border of one of the shvatim in Eretz Yisrael. The Ramban seems to understand this to include challenging the borders of both shvatim and individuals (see Bemidbar 33:54).
• The third is reversing the views of R’ Eliezer and R’ Yehoshua on a particular question of tum’ah. Some say this is just an asmachta, but others say it’s a true [1]
• The fourth is selling ancestral property that contains a cemetery.

The Radvaz notes that although many assume hasagas gvul means improper business competition, this explanation is not found in Chazal (though it may still violate an issur deRabanan).

The business competition element is found only in passing in the Rishonim, in a teshuvah of the Rambam and in a comment of the Rokeiach. But the Maharshal defends the explanation and says that the arur here adds business encroachment to the issur of hasagas gvul in Parshas Shoftim. A number of Acharonim accept this Maharshal and maintain that improper competition violates this arur mideOreisa.

[1]The mefarshim debate whether this prohibition encompasses reversing the views in any machlokess or only that of R’ Eliezer and R’ Yehoshua—because R’ Eliezer followed Beis Shamai, whom the halacha doesn’t follow.