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Bava Basra 74a

בבא בתרא ע״ד ע״א

Bava Batra 74a

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Topic

Wondrous travel stories: רבה בר בר חנה's desert journeys with the Arab, and the sea stories of רבי יוחנן and רב ספרא

Overview

This amud is full of wondrous travel stories. רבה בר בר חנה, guided by an Arab, sees the giant bodies of the מתי מדבר and cuts a corner of one man's תכלת, but he cannot move until he gives it back. The רבנן scold him, since he could have settled the ציצית question just by counting the threads. At הר סיני he hears a בת קול regretting an oath, and the רבנן fault him for not cancelling it. The גמרא explains that he feared it was the oath about the מבול, and the רבנן answer that God would not say "woe is Me" about that oath. He then hears קרח's swallowed followers confess that משה and his תורה are true, and he loses his basket where the earth and sky meet, until he learns the turning sky will bring it back. Next come sea stories: רבי יוחנן's giant fish, and רב ספרא's horned fish, which רב אשי identifies as the goat of the sea. The amud ends as רבי יוחנן begins a story about a jeweled crate guarded by sharks, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

וְגָנוּ אַפַּרְקִיד.

And they were lying on their backs.

וַהֲוָה זְקִיפָא בִּרְכֵּיהּ דְּחַד מִינַּיְיהוּ,

And the knee of one of them was raised,

וְעָיֵל טַיָּיעָא תּוּתֵי בִּרְכֵּיהּ

and the Arab went in under his knee

כִּי רְכִיב גַּמְלָא,

while riding a camel,

The steps (17)

  1. StatementThe giants lying in the desert
  2. StatementCutting the corner of the ציצית and returning it
  3. ChallengeThe Sages scold him: just count the threads
  4. Statementהר סיני and the בת קול regretting an oath
  5. ChallengeThe Sages scold him: you should have cancelled it
  6. ResolutionWhy he held back: maybe it was the oath about the מבול
  7. RejectionThe Sages answer: then why "woe is Me"?
  8. StatementThe smoking cracks of Korach's swallowed people
  9. StatementThe voices admit that משה is true
  10. StatementEvery thirty days they are turned back here
  11. StatementWhere the earth and sky meet, and the basket disappears
  12. QuestionAre there thieves here?
  13. ResponseThe turning sky carried it away
  14. Statementרבי יוחנן's giant fish
  15. Statementרב ספרא's horned fish heading into the Leviathan's mouth
  16. Statementרב אשי identifies the horned creature
  17. StatementA jeweled crate guarded by sharks