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Bava Basra 129b

בבא בתרא קכ״ט ע״ב

Bava Batra 129b

Learn Bava Basra 129b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Gift and inheritance wording for two people: רב ששת is proven right, and ריש לקיש is reconciled through תוך כדי דיבור

Overview

Earlier, רב ששת asked about a man who gives one field to one person with gift wording and a second field to another person with inheritance wording. Does the second person acquire? רב ששת first brings a ברייתא about a father who left his sons a shekel a week and said that others will inherit the rest. He then pushes away his own proof: the 'others' may be people fit to inherit, following רבי יוחנן בן ברוקה. רב אשי brings a stronger ברייתא, where property goes to one person and 'after you' passes to a second and then a third, and each one acquires in turn. That cannot follow רבי יוחנן בן ברוקה, because under his view inheritance wording to an heir can never be cut off. So the גמרא concludes that everyone who disagreed with רב ששת is refuted. The גמרא then asks whether ריש לקיש is refuted too, but רבא ruled like ריש לקיש on this very issue. The answer is that the ברייתא is a case where both parts were said within תוך כדי דיבור, and ריש לקיש is talking about a case where the second part came later. The amud ends with the general rule that anything said within תוך כדי דיבור counts as one statement, except for עבודה זרה. The list of exceptions continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

יִירְשׁוּ אֲחֵרִים תַּחְתֵּיהֶם״ –

others will inherit in their place,

בֵּין שֶׁאָמַר ״תְּנוּ״

whether he said 'give'

בֵּין שֶׁאָמַר ״אַל תִּתְּנוּ״ –

or whether he said 'do not give',

אֵין נוֹתְנִין לָהֶן אֶלָּא שֶׁקֶל.

they give them only a shekel.

The steps (12)

  1. ProofEnd of the shekel-a-week ברייתא
  2. ProofThis ברייתא is a two-fields, two-people case
  3. Rejectionרב ששת pushes away his own proof
  4. Proofרב אשי brings the ברייתא of a chain of inheritors
  5. ProofThe ברייתא is a case of two fields and two people, and the next recipient still acquires
  6. ChallengeBlocking the escape that the case follows רבי יוחנן בן ברוקה
  7. ProofUnder רבי יוחנן בן ברוקה, inheritance cannot be cut off
  8. ConclusionEveryone who argued with רב ששת is refuted
  9. ChallengeDoes the same ברייתא also refute ריש לקיש?
  10. ChallengeBut רבא ruled like ריש לקיש
  11. ResolutionWithin the time of speech versus after it
  12. ConclusionThe rule of תוך כדי דיבור, except for idol worship