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Bava Basra 64a

בבא בתרא ס״ד ע״א

Bava Batra 64a

Learn Bava Basra 64a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Whether a plain house sale includes עומקא ורומא (two proofs, both rejected), and the משנה about the בור and דות and the argument over buying a path to them.

Overview

The גמרא is asking whether someone who buys a house בסתמא (without specifying) also gets the space below and above it, its עומקא ורומא. First it rejects a proof from a roof with a ten-טפחים wall: such a roof is significant on its own, so it is left out of the sale for that reason. Next רבינא brings a proof from ריש לקיש, who rules that a seller who says 'על מנת that the upper story is mine' keeps the upper story. That proof is pushed aside too: the condition only lets the seller rebuild the upper story if it falls. Then a new משנה teaches that a pit and a cistern are not sold with a house, even if the contract says 'depth and height.' רבי עקיבא says the seller must buy a path to reach them, and the חכמים say he does not. When the pits are sold to someone else, the opinions flip. The גמרא explains, through two parallel stories, that a בור is only dug while a דות is lined with built walls. Finally it starts to suggest the idea behind the path argument, and that suggestion continues on the next עמוד.

Opening lines

וְאִי סָלְקָא דַּעְתָּךְ

And if it enters your mind

בִּסְתָמָא קָנֵי עוּמְקָא וְרוּמָא,

that without specification he acquires the depth and the height,

כִּי גָּבוֹהַּ עֲשָׂרָה טְפָחִים מַאי הָוֵי?

when it is ten handbreadths high, what of it?

כֵּיוָן דְּגָבוֹהַּ עֲשָׂרָה טְפָחִים –

Since it is ten handbreadths high,

The steps (17)

  1. ChallengeIf the buyer gets the height, why does a high wall matter?
  2. RejectionA ten-טפחים wall makes the roof significant
  3. Proofרבינא brings ריש לקיש's case of the upper story
  4. QuestionWhat law is ריש לקיש teaching?
  5. Responseרב זביד and רב פפא explain the extra right
  6. ChallengeWhy would the seller need a condition at all?
  7. RejectionThe condition lets him rebuild if it falls
  8. Statementמשנה: the pit and cistern are not sold
  9. Statementרבי עקיבא: the seller must buy a path
  10. StatementThe חכמים: no need to buy a path
  11. Statementרבי עקיבא agrees when the seller wrote 'except for these'
  12. StatementThe reverse case: the seller sold the pits to someone else
  13. Challengeרבינא asks why both a pit and a cistern are listed
  14. Resolutionרבא תוספאה explains the difference from a ברייתא
  15. Challengeרב אשי asks the same question
  16. Resolutionמר קשישא gives the same answer
  17. QuestionWhat are רבי עקיבא and the חכמים really arguing about?