Gittin, chapter five, mishnah 2. Continuing the themes of the previous mishnah regarding the repayment of loans, our mishnah deals with the order in which a creditor collects from different categories of property.
Defining the terms:
Encumbered property (nechasim meshubadim) - property that has become liened because of a debt. Reuven borrowed money from Shimon, and he owns property upon which Shimon relies for the collection of his debt: if Reuven has no cash available, Shimon will collect from that property. If Reuven sells that property to someone else, it remains liened to Shimon's debt, and Shimon may collect from it even after it has been sold.
Free property (nechasim bnei chorin) - property that has not been sold and is still in Reuven's possession, and is not liened to anyone else.
The rule of the mishnah:
"Ein nifra'in minechasim meshubadim bimkom sheyeish nechasim bnei chorin, va'afilu hen zibburis" - Shimon may not collect from the property that was liened and then sold to another party, as long as Reuven still has free property in his possession. And here is the novelty of the mishnah: even if the property remaining in Reuven's hands is zibburis, the poorest quality land, Shimon collects from it and may not turn to the encumbered property.
In the previous mishnah we learned that by Torah law it is enough to repay a debt from zibburis, while for the sake of tikkun ha'olam - so that the door should not be closed to borrowers, with lenders refusing to lend - the Sages instituted that collection be made from beinonis, land of medium quality. Our mishnah teaches that this enactment applies specifically when the collection is being made from free property. But when there is encumbered property on one side and free property that is only zibburis on the other, there is no right to collect from the encumbered property that was sold; rather, the creditor takes from the free property even though it is only zibburis - and this too is for the very same reason of tikkun ha'olam.
Collecting from the property of orphans:
"Ein nifra'in minichsei yesomim ela min hazibburis" - when collection is made from property that orphans inherited from their father, and the father had a loan that must be repaid from the estate, we do not enforce the enactment of the Sages to collect from beinonis; rather, we collect from zibburis alone, according to Torah law.
In summary: In this mishnah we learned the order of collection: as long as there is free property, one does not collect from encumbered property, even if the free property is only zibburis; and from the property of orphans one collects only from zibburis, according to Torah law, and the enactment of collecting from beinonis is not applied to them.