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Bava Basra 63b

בבא בתרא ס״ג ע״ב

Bava Batra 63b

Learn Bava Basra 63b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

What the seller keeps when he holds back the upper story (עלייה), and what the words 'depth and height' (עומקא ורומא) include when selling a house

Overview

The גמרא asks what practical difference comes from ריש לקיש's statement that a seller keeps the upper story (עלייה). רב זביד says the seller may extend projections (זיזין) out over the courtyard. רב פפא says he may rebuild the upper story if it falls. רב זביד's answer fits ריש לקיש's opening words 'זאת אומרת', but רב פפא's does not, and the גמרא ends with קשיא. Next, רב דימי מנהרדעא teaches that a house sale needs two phrases. 'Depth and height' (עומקא ורומא) gives the buyer the space below and above, since a plain sale does not include it. 'From the depths of the earth to the height of the sky' gives him the pit, cistern and tunnels. The גמרא tries to support him from a משנה, but pushes the proof aside by reading that משנה another way. In that reading, a plain sale includes depth and height, and the written words add the pit and cistern. Finally, the גמרא brings another line of the משנה, about a roof with a railing ten טפחים high, to test the question again, and that discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לְמַאי הִלְכְתָא?

For what law?

רַב זְבִיד אָמַר:

Rav Zevid said:

שֶׁאִם רָצָה לְהוֹצִיא בָּהּ זִיזִין, מוֹצִיא.

That if he wants to extend projections from it, he may extend them.

רַב פָּפָּא אָמַר:

Rav Pappa said:

The steps (14)

  1. QuestionWhat practical law does the statement teach?
  2. Responseרב זביד: the seller may extend projections
  3. Responseרב פפא: the seller may rebuild the upper story
  4. ChallengeOnly רב זביד fits the words 'זאת אומרת'
  5. Conclusionרב פפא's view remains difficult
  6. Statementרב דימי: a house sale needs two phrases
  7. QuestionWhy are both phrases needed?
  8. ResponseEach phrase covers something different
  9. ProofA משנה that might support רב דימי
  10. ProofHow the משנה would prove רב דימי
  11. RejectionThe proof is rejected: he did not write it
  12. ChallengeBut the משנה says 'even if he wrote'
  13. ResolutionRereading the משנה in two parts
  14. ProofA new source: the roof with a ten-טפחים railing