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Bava Basra 143a

בבא בתרא קמ״ג ע״א

Bava Batra 143a

Learn Bava Basra 143a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Gifts that name a valid receiver together with another party: "you and a donkey", and "to you and your sons"

Overview

The amud opens with רבי אבין explaining רבי אבהו's ruling. A father who compares his son's acquiring to that of his unborn children is like someone who says "acquire like a donkey", so the son gets nothing. The גמרא then brings a three-way מחלוקת about "you and a donkey": רב נחמן says the person gets half, רב המנונא says the statement means nothing, and רב ששת says the person gets everything. רב ששת tries to prove his view from separating תרומה from a cucumber. The גמרא rejects the proof using רבי אילעא's teaching that even poor produce is real תרומה by Torah law. Next, רב אויא challenges רב המנונא from a משנה about a man who betrothed five women, two of them sisters, and רב אשי answers that challenge. A new case follows: a man gives his property "to you and your sons", and רב יוסף rules that the wife gets half, based on "for אהרן and his sons". אביי pushes back, and the גמרא brings real cases decided by שמואל, רבי יוחנן and רבי, then sets aside the tax case. The amud ends with רבי זירא challenging רב יוסף from a מנחה brought in two vessels, sixty in one vessel and forty in the other.

Opening lines

וְכַרְכֵּישׁ בָּהּ רֵישֵׁיהּ בֵּי מִדְרְשָׁא.

And he nodded his head at it in the study hall.

אֲזַל לְגַבֵּיהּ, אֲמַר לֵיהּ:

He went to him, and he said to him:

אִילּוּ אֲמַר לֵיהּ ״קְנִי כַּחֲמוֹר״,

If he had said to him: "Acquire like a donkey,"

מִי קָנֵי?!

would he acquire?!

The steps (17)

  1. ResponseExplaining רבי אבהו's reasoning: "Acquire like a donkey"
  2. ProofSource: "Acquire like a donkey" gives nothing
  3. StatementThe three-way dispute about "You and a donkey"
  4. Proofרב ששת brings the cucumber ברייתא
  5. ProofThe proof: the cucumber is a case of "You and a donkey"
  6. RejectionThe cucumber case is different: the bitter part is real תרומה by Torah law
  7. Proofרבי אילעא's source: separating from bad for good still makes תרומה
  8. Challengeרב אויא brings the case of the five women
  9. ChallengeWhy are the other women betrothed? It is "you and a donkey"!
  10. ResolutionThe sisters were never included in the betrothal
  11. StatementProperty given to a wife and her sons
  12. ProofThe proof from אהרן and his sons
  13. Rejectionאהרן is different from a wife
  14. Challengeשמואל and רבי יוחנן gave half
  15. Challengeרבי split the crown tax half and half
  16. RejectionThe royal tax case is different
  17. ChallengeA מנחה promised in two vessels is not split in half