Bava Basra 26b

בבא בתרא כ״ו ע״ב

Bava Batra 26b

Learn Bava Basra 26b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Basra 26b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Whether tree roots follow the tree or the land, the sixteen-אמה rule, and עולא's source for it.

Overview

The amud opens with the end of a story. רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע defended cutting רב פפא's palm roots by quoting רב יהודה's rule about a public strip. Afterward he realized he could simply have said he cut beyond sixteen אמות. The גמרא then returns to the משנה: someone digging a pit may cut roots, 'and the wood is his.' יעקב הדייבא asks whose wood that is. רב חסדא tries to prove from a משנה in מעילה that roots follow the tree. The proof is challenged from the second half of that משנה. One answer says the משנה is about new growths and proves nothing. רבינא answers instead that it depends on whether the roots are within or beyond sixteen אמות. Finally, עולא rules that a tree within sixteen אמות of a border is a גזלן and cannot be used for ביכורים. The גמרא searches for his source in the משנה of שביעית, and that search continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (13)

1. ProofWinning the argument with רב יהודה's rule
2. ResolutionA better answer he thought of later: the sixteen-אמה line
3. StatementBack to the משנה: digging a pit and cutting roots
4. QuestionWhose wood is it?
5. Responseרב חסדא: you already learned it, roots of a private tree in הקדש land
6. ProofWhy the משנה proves roots follow the tree
7. ChallengeThe second half of the משנה seems to say roots follow the land
8. RejectionThe משנה is about new growth, so it proves nothing about roots
9. Resolutionרבינא: within sixteen אמות versus beyond sixteen אמות
10. Statementעולא: a tree within sixteen אמות of the border
11. QuestionWhere does עולא get sixteen אמות from?
12. RejectionThe math does not match sixteen אמות
13. ResponseA second suggested source: three trees of three people