Bava Basra 146a

בבא בתרא קמ״ו ע״א

Bava Batra 146a

Learn Bava Basra 146a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The hard life of the poor, then the משנה and גמרא on engagement gifts (סבלונות): when a groom can take them back if the marriage does not happen

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an אגדה about the פסוק 'כל ימי עני רעים' (all the days of the poor are bad). The גמרא asks how that can be true when the poor also have שבתות and ימים טובים. It answers with שמואל's rule that a change in routine makes a person sick, and adds בן סירא's line that even the poor man's nights are bad. Next comes a new משנה about סבלונות, the gifts a groom sends to his bride's family. If the marriage falls through, he cannot take them back once he has eaten a סעודת חתן there. Big gifts meant for his own house do come back, and small gifts for her use at her father's house do not. רבא says the משנה's 'דינר' is exact, and the story of a groom who drank at the door and died proves that drinking counts like eating. The גמרא then raises questions it cannot settle: whether the groom takes back only part of the gifts, who owns their rise in value, and what happens to gifts meant to wear out that did not wear out. The amud ends with two stories from רב, one about new produce sent on עצרת and one about a man testing his bride's sense of smell. That second story continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (28)

1. ChallengeHow can all the days of the poor be bad?
2. ResolutionA change in routine makes a person sick
3. StatementThe same line in the book of בן סירא
4. StatementEven the nights are bad, with two pictures of bad luck
5. StatementEngagement gifts and the groom's meal
6. StatementBig gifts versus small gifts
7. Statementרבא: exactly a דינר, not less
8. ChallengeIsn't that obvious?
9. ResolutionWe might have thought 'דינר' was just the usual way of speaking
10. QuestionThree questions about eating, the groom himself, and the place
11. ProofThe story of the groom who drank and died
12. ResponseThe Sages' ruling shows that drinking counts
13. QuestionDoes the story also prove less than a דינר counts?
14. Rejectionרב אשי: maybe the drink was very expensive
15. QuestionDoes the story prove a meal sent to him counts?
16. RejectionThe doorway counts as the house itself
17. QuestionPartial refund, and who owns the rise in value of the gifts
18. ConclusionThe questions stay unanswered
19. QuestionGifts meant to wear out that did not wear out
20. ProofTrying to prove it from the ruling in אושא
21. RejectionThe אושא ruling means gifts that really wore out
22. ProofA second try: small gifts for her use
23. Rejectionרבא explains: tiny items like a hairnet
24. StatementA man sent new wine, oil, and linen on עצרת
25. QuestionWhat does this story teach?
26. ResponseFirst answer: the greatness of ארץ ישראל
27. ResponseSecond answer: such a claim is believable
28. StatementThe man who tested his wife's sense of smell