Bava Basra 161b

בבא בתרא קס״א ע״ב

Bava Batra 161b

Learn Bava Basra 161b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Protecting documents from forgery: cut-off signatures in a מקושר, and רבי יוחנן's rules on erasures and the last line of a שטר

Overview

Earlier on the page, the גמרא worried about a forger who cuts off the last line of a מקושר (a tied document), taking the first part of a witness's signature with it. If the witness signed 'ראובן בן יעקב עד', what is left reads 'יעקב עד' and looks like a full signature. The amud opens with the end of the answer: the court can tell this is not the real signature of anyone named יעקב. The גמרא then asks whether the witness might have signed with his father's name, or used it as a personal mark, the way some חכמים signed with drawings or single letters. Both ideas are rejected, because people do not treat their father's name that way. מר זוטרא then gives a simpler solution: in a מקושר all the signatures must end on the same line, so cutting a line would damage every signature and expose the forgery. Next, רבי יוחנן gives two rules for scribes. Every erasure in a שטר must be confirmed at the end with 'וְדֵין קִיּוּמֵיהוֹן', and the last line must repeat some of the document's content. The amud ends with the גמרא asking the reason for this second rule, and the answer comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (8)

1. ResolutionThe court knows it is not יעקב's signature
2. ChallengeMaybe the witness signed with his father's name
3. ResolutionPeople do not drop their own name for their father's
4. ChallengeMaybe the name is just his personal mark
5. ResolutionNo one would be so disrespectful to his father
6. Resolutionמר זוטרא: all signatures must end on one line
7. StatementTwo rules for a scribe writing a document
8. QuestionAsking the reason for repeating content in the last line