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Bava Basra 58a

בבא בתרא נ״ח ע״א

Bava Batra 58a

Learn Bava Basra 58a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Signs of a תלמיד חכם, and stories of רבי בנאה's wisdom, from מערת המכפלה to becoming a judge

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a comparison between the table of a תלמיד חכם and that of an עם הארץ. A second comparison follows, about what each keeps under his bed. Then come stories about רבי בנאה, who marked burial caves. At מערת המכפלה he meets אליעזר, enters אברהם's cave, and is then told by a בת קול not to look at אדם הראשון. He sees only אדם's shining heels, which leads to two chains of beauty: one rising to the שכינה, and one tracing Sages back to אדם הראשון. Next, a dead Sage, רב טובי בר מתנה, grabs a man who was digging up graves. Two more stories show רבי בנאה solving puzzling wills, and the second leads to his arrest. His wife's riddle about a water skin gets him freed and made a judge. At the end he sees a rule on the court gate and begins to challenge it, and his argument continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לִמְדוּרָה, וּקְדֵרוֹת מַקִּיפוֹת אוֹתָהּ.

to a bonfire, with pots surrounding it.

מִטָּה שֶׁל תַּלְמִידֵי חֲכָמִים – כֵּיצַד?

The bed of Torah scholars – how should it be?

כֹּל שֶׁאֵין תַּחְתֶּיהָ אֶלָּא סַנְדָּלִין בִּימוֹת הַחַמָּה,

As long as there is nothing under it except sandals in the summer,

וּמִנְעָלִין בִּימוֹת הַגְּשָׁמִים.

and shoes in the rainy season.

The steps (27)

  1. StatementThe table of an ignorant person looks like a bonfire
  2. StatementWhat should be under the bed of a Torah scholar
  3. Statementרבי בנאה reaches the cave of אברהם
  4. Questionרבי בנאה asks what אברהם is doing
  5. Responseאליעזר says אברהם is resting with שרה
  6. Questionרבי בנאה asks אליעזר to announce him first
  7. ResponseNo יצר הרע there, so רבי בנאה goes in
  8. StatementA Heavenly voice forbids looking at אדם הראשון
  9. Challengeרבי בנאה protests that he must mark the cave
  10. ResolutionThe inner cave has the same size as the outer cave
  11. ResolutionThe same answer for the view that the rooms are stacked
  12. Statementאדם's heels shone like two suns
  13. StatementA chain of beauty from שרה up to the שכינה
  14. StatementA chain of beauty from רב כהנא back to אדם הראשון
  15. StatementA grave-digger is grabbed by the beard
  16. StatementThe second time, his beard has to be cut off
  17. StatementA father's confusing will about three barrels
  18. Responseרבי בנאה decodes the three barrels
  19. StatementA man learns only one son is his
  20. ResponseThe grave test reveals the true son
  21. StatementThe brothers slander רבי בנאה to the king
  22. Statementרבי בנאה's wife presents a riddle
  23. QuestionThe authorities cannot understand the riddle
  24. Responseרבי בנאה solves the riddle: a water skin
  25. Conclusionרבי בנאה is made a judge
  26. StatementThe inscription on the gate
  27. Challengeרבי בנאה begins to challenge the inscription