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Bava Basra 33a

בבא בתרא ל״ג ע״א

Bava Batra 33a

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Topic

Using a מיגו to collect a debt from orphans' land, and an heir's claim to past produce after the other side admits

Overview

This amud finishes the story of רבא בר שרשום. He held land from the orphans' father as collateral (משכנתא). He wanted to keep using it to collect a second, unsecured debt without a שבועה, relying on a מיגו: he could have claimed he bought the land. אביי rejects this, because everyone knows the land belongs to the orphans, so 'I bought it' would never have been believed. He must return the land and sue the orphans once they grow up. The גמרא then tells a new story: רב אידי בר אבין and another man each claim to be the closer relative of a man who died and left a date palm. When the other man admits רב אידי is closer, רב חסדא gives him the tree. רב חסדא refuses to make the other man pay for the dates he already ate, because רב אידי's only proof is that man's admission, and until then he claimed the opposite. The amud ends by noting that אביי and רבא disagree with רב חסדא, and their reasoning continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

זוּזִי אַחֲרִינֵי גַּבֵּיהּ,

other money with him,

וַאֲכַלְתַּהּ שְׁנֵי מַשְׁכַּנְתָּא.

and I profited from it for the years of the collateral.

אָמֵינָא: אִי מַהְדַּרְנָא לַהּ אַרְעָא לְיַתְמֵי,

I said: If I return the land to the orphans,

וְאָמֵינָא דְּאִית לִי זוּזִי אַחֲרִינֵי גַּבֵּי דַּאֲבוּכוֹן –

and I say that I have other money with your father –

The steps (9)

  1. StatementThe background: a second debt and the end of the collateral years
  2. Statementרבא בר שרשום's reasoning: keep the land using a מיגו
  3. Rejectionאביי: the מיגו fails because everyone knows it is orphans' land
  4. Conclusionאביי's instruction: return the land and sue later
  5. StatementA new story: two men each claim to be the closer relative
  6. StatementThe other man admits, and רב חסדא gives the tree to רב אידי
  7. Statementרב אידי demands the past produce
  8. Rejectionרב חסדא rejects the demand for produce
  9. Statementאביי and רבא disagree with רב חסדא