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Bava Basra 42b

בבא בתרא מ״ב ע״ב

Bava Batra 42b

Learn Bava Basra 42b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

How partners stand on חזקה, payment for improving shared land, and testimony, according to שמואל's rules about a שותף.

Overview

The גמרא opens with two versions of a teaching. אבוה דשמואל and לוי say a שותף (partner) cannot establish חזקה, and an אומן (craftsman) certainly cannot. שמואל agrees about the craftsman but says a partner can, which fits his rule that partners count as separate parties. רבי אבא points out that שמואל also said a partner is like a יורד ברשות (someone who entered with permission), which seems to mean no חזקה. The first answer splits the cases into using the whole field versus half of it, and people apply this split in opposite directions. רבינא answers instead that in both cases the partner used the whole field, and the difference is whether the field is big enough to be divided. The גמרא then studies the יורד ברשות statement on its own and explains that it is about payment, not חזקה: a partner who improves the field collects from the fully grown improvement. Finally, the גמרא turns to שמואל's next rule, that partners may testify for each other.

Opening lines

גְּמָ׳

Gemara:

אֲבוּהּ דִּשְׁמוּאֵל וְלֵוִי תָּנוּ:

Shmuel's father and Levi taught:

שׁוּתָּף אֵין לוֹ חֲזָקָה,

A partner does not have a presumption of ownership,

וְכׇל שֶׁכֵּן אוּמָּן.

and all the more so a craftsman does not.

The steps (11)

  1. StatementA partner has no presumption of ownership, and a craftsman certainly does not
  2. Statementשמואל's version: a craftsman cannot, but a partner can
  3. Proofשמואל is consistent: partners are treated as separate parties
  4. Challengeרבי אבא raises a contradiction from another statement of שמואל
  5. ResolutionUsing the whole field versus using half
  6. StatementThe split can be applied in either direction
  7. Resolutionרבינא: the difference is whether the field can be divided
  8. StatementGoing back to שמואל's statement about a partner
  9. ChallengeWhy didn't שמואל just say a partner has no חזקה?
  10. ResolutionThe real point: a partner collects his share of the full grown improvement
  11. StatementNext part of שמואל's statement: partners testify for each other