Bava Basra 51b

בבא בתרא נ״א ע״ב

Bava Batra 51b

Learn Bava Basra 51b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Basra 51b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

When a husband sells or gives a field to his wife: does she really own it, and does he still get to eat the פירות (the produce)?

Overview

This amud discusses a husband who sells or gives a field to his wife. It opens with the end of a ruling that the wife owns a field she bought from him, but the husband eats its פירות. רבי אבא, רבי אבהו and the great sages of the generation say the 'sale' was really a gift, written as a sale to strengthen her rights. The גמרא challenges whether she owns it at all, from a ברייתא where a loan from one's wife or slave is treated as a trick to expose hidden money. It answers that a loan is different, because no one wants to be a 'servant to the lender'. רב rules that in a sale the husband eats the פירות, but in a gift he does not. רבי אלעזר, and רבי יוחנן as reported by רבין, say he does not eat them in either case, and רב חסדא ruled that way against the objection of רב's grandsons. רבא gives the הלכה, and the גמרא explains it with רב יהודה: if she paid with hidden money she does not acquire, but if her money was not hidden she does. The amud ends with a new ברייתא about not accepting deposits from women, slaves and children.

Opening lines

The steps (13)

1. StatementEnd of the earlier ruling: the husband eats the produce
2. StatementThe great sages: it was really a gift, written as a sale
3. ChallengeChallenge: a loan from a wife or slave is treated as a trick
4. ResolutionAnswer: no one wants to be called a borrower
5. Statementרב: sale versus gift and the husband's right to the produce
6. Statementרבי אלעזר: in both cases the husband gets no produce
7. Statementרב חסדא rules in a real case like רבי אלעזר
8. Challengeרב's grandsons object: why follow the student over the teacher?
9. Resolutionרב חסדא answers: רבי יוחנן agrees with me
10. Statementרבא gives the final הלכה on sale and gift
11. ChallengeTwo rulings that don't fit together?
12. ResolutionTwo different cases: hidden money vs. money in the open
13. StatementNew topic: deposits from women, slaves and children