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Bava Basra 81a

בבא בתרא פ״א ע״א

Bava Batra 81a

Learn Bava Basra 81a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Buying trees in someone else's field: whether the ground comes with them, and how this affects bringing ביכורים and reciting the declaration.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a list of tree names and then gives a second version (איכא דאמרי) of how three tree names are explained. A new משנה follows. According to the תנא קמא, someone who buys two trees in a friend's field does not get the ground under them, while רבי מאיר says he does. The משנה lists what follows: who may trim the trees, who owns new growth, and what happens when the trees die. A buyer of three trees gets the ground, and all those rules flip. The גמרא then quotes a parallel משנה in ביכורים, where the same dispute decides whether the two-tree buyer recites the declaration. שמואל reads that משנה as teaching that רבי מאיר requires ביכורים even from fruit bought in the market, and the גמרא answers three challenges from פסוקים. Then רבה brings a ברייתא in which רבי מאיר says a buyer of one tree does not recite because he owns no land, and שמואל's reading is refuted. The amud ends as רבי שמעון בן אליקים begins a statement to רבי אלעזר, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

כְּסִיתָא.

…coral trees (kasita).

אִיכָּא דְּאָמְרִי:

There are those who say:

עֲרוֹנִים, עַרְמוֹנִים, אַלְמוּגִּים.

Aronim, armonim, almugim.

עֲרוֹנִים – עָרֵי,

Aronim are laurel trees (arei),

The steps (17)

  1. StatementFinishing the earlier list of tree names
  2. StatementA second version of the tree names
  3. StatementBuying two trees: is the ground included?
  4. StatementBuying three trees: the ground is included
  5. StatementA parallel משנה about ביכורים
  6. Statementרבי מאיר obligates even market-bought fruit
  7. ProofProof from an apparently extra משנה
  8. ConclusionSo רבי מאיר obligates even market fruit
  9. ChallengeChallenge: the verse says 'from your land'
  10. ResolutionAnswer: it excludes outside the Land
  11. ChallengeChallenge: the verse says 'your ground'
  12. ResolutionAnswer: it excludes a gentile's land
  13. ChallengeChallenge: 'which You have given me'
  14. ResolutionAnswer: You gave me money to buy it
  15. Challengeרבה's objection from רבי מאיר's ruling on buying one tree
  16. Conclusionשמואל's position is refuted
  17. StatementIntroducing רבי שמעון בן אליקים's statement to רבי אלעזר