Bava Basra 2a

בבא בתרא ב׳ ע״א

Bava Batra 2a

Learn Bava Basra 2a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

How שותפין split a shared חצר with a wall, when a neighbor must help build a fence, and the גמרא's first reading of the word מחיצה

Overview

This opening משנה of בבא בתרא teaches that when partners agree to divide a shared חצר, the wall goes in the middle. Its material, and so its thickness, follows local custom. Each partner gives up half the space the wall needs, so if it falls, both own the land and the stones. The same duty to share in building applies to a גינה where fencing is customary. In a בקעה where fencing is not customary, one who wants a wall builds it alone on his own land and marks it, and it stays his. If both neighbors agree, they build it on the middle line, mark both sides, and it belongs to both. The גמרא then starts by explaining the word מחיצה. Its first assumption is that it means a wall, and it supports this with a ברייתא about a breached vineyard partition that must be fenced again and again.

Opening lines

The steps (7)

1. StatementPartners build the dividing wall in the middle, following local custom
2. StatementHow much land each partner gives for each kind of wall
3. StatementGarden versus open fields: when a neighbor must help build
4. StatementBuilding a wall alone on your own land in the open fields
5. StatementA wall built with both neighbors' agreement belongs to both
6. StatementThe first assumption: מחיצה means a wall
7. ProofProof from a ברייתא about a breached vineyard partition