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Bava Basra 73b

בבא בתרא ע״ג ע״ב

Bava Batra 73b

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Topic

The wonder stories of רבה בר בר חנה: giant creatures on land and sea, the geese of עולם הבא, and the Arab guide in the desert

Overview

This amud is אגדתא, a chain of amazing stories, not a legal debate. It finishes the story of the demon הורמין בר לילית, whose stunts on a stormy day ended when the king's house heard and killed him. Then רבה and רבה בר בר חנה report giant creatures they saw: a day-old antelope as big as הר תבור, and a huge frog swallowed by a snake that a raven then swallowed. רב פפא בר שמואל says he would not have believed the frog story if he had not been there. A series of sea stories follows. One fish wrecked and later helped rebuild sixty towns. Another fish was mistaken for an island. A third was so long that a fast ship took three days to pass it, and רב אשי names it a sea גילדנא. A bird stood in water so deep that an ax had been sinking for seven years, and רב אשי calls it the זיז שדי. In the desert, fat geese are waiting for ישראל in עולם הבא, and רבי אלעזר says ישראל will answer for their delay. After a סימן, an Arab guide who finds his way by smelling dust shows רבה בר בר חנה the מתי מדבר, and that story continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אַתְּרֵי גִישְׁרֵי דְרוֹגְנַג;

on the two bridges of the river Rognag;

וְשָׁוַאר מֵהַאי לְהַאי וּמֵהַאי לְהַאי,

and he jumped from this one to that one and from that one to this one,

וְנָקֵיט תְּרֵי מִזְגֵי דְחַמְרָא בִּידֵיהּ,

and he held two cups of wine in his hands,

וּמוֹרִיק מֵהַאי לְהַאי וּמֵהַאי לְהַאי,

and he poured from this one to that one and from that one to this one,

The steps (17)

  1. StatementThe end of the הורמין בר לילית story
  2. StatementA day-old antelope as big as הר תבור
  3. StatementA huge frog, a snake, a raven, and a strong tree
  4. Statementרב פפא בר שמואל: I would not have believed it
  5. StatementThe giant fish that wrecked and rebuilt sixty towns
  6. StatementThe fish that looked like an island
  7. StatementThree days sailing between a fish's fins
  8. ResolutionHow fast these ships really were
  9. Statementרב אשי names the fish
  10. StatementThe giant bird standing in bottomless water
  11. StatementWhy the ax never reached the bottom
  12. Statementרב אשי identifies the bird as זיז שדי
  13. StatementThe fat geese in the desert
  14. Statementרבי אלעזר: ישראל will answer for the geese
  15. StatementA memory hook for the guide stories
  16. StatementThe guide who could smell the way
  17. StatementThe guide shows the dead of the wilderness