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Bava Basra 87a

בבא בתרא פ״ז ע״א

Bava Batra 87a

Learn Bava Basra 87a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Wage arrangements and ריבית, acquiring flax, and when a sale of wine or oil becomes final

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a ברייתא about hiring a worker cheaply for harvest time. The גמרא uses it to challenge רב and שמואל, but רבא answers that lowering wages is not real ריבית. The only problem is how it looks, and that depends on whether the worker starts working right away. Next, רב ששת explains how cutting a little flax can acquire all of it: the seller told the buyer to clear some land and acquire everything on it. A new משנה then teaches that a sale of wine or oil becomes final when the measuring vessel is filled. It also says a middleman bears the loss of a broken barrel, and the seller must drip three extra drops for the buyer. The גמרא asks whose measuring vessel this is, and רבי אילעא answers that it belongs to a סרסור. Finally, רבי אלעזר seeks out רב's student to raise a difficulty about the drained drops, and his objection continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

וְלַגּוֹרֶן יָפֶה סֶלַע –

and at the threshing floor [a day's work] is worth a sela —

אָסוּר לֵהָנוֹת הֵימֶנּוּ.

it is forbidden to benefit from him.

אֲבָל אִם שְׂכָרוֹ מֵהַיּוֹם

But if he hired him from today

בְּדִינָר לְיוֹם,

for a dinar a day,

The steps (20)

  1. StatementEnd of the ברייתא about hiring a worker for harvest
  2. ChallengeChallenge to רב and שמואל from the second case
  3. Rejectionרבא: lowering wages is not truly forbidden
  4. ChallengeThen why are the two cases different?
  5. ResolutionIt depends on whether the worker starts now
  6. StatementCutting any amount of attached flax acquires it
  7. ChallengeHow can a small cut acquire all the flax?
  8. Resolutionרב ששת: the seller said to clear land and acquire everything on it
  9. StatementNew משנה: selling wine and oil, and the middleman's broken barrel
  10. StatementThe three extra drops, and who is exempt
  11. QuestionWhose measuring vessel is it?
  12. ChallengeIf it is the buyer's vessel, why wait until it is full?
  13. ChallengeIf it is the seller's vessel, why does filling it help the buyer?
  14. ResolutionThe measuring vessel belongs to a middleman
  15. ChallengeThe latter clause treats the middleman as a new case
  16. ResolutionThe middleman's vessel versus the middleman himself
  17. StatementQuoting the משנה about tilting and draining
  18. Questionרבי אלעזר looks for רב's student
  19. QuestionWhat is bothering you?
  20. Challengeרבי אלעזר begins his difficulty with the משנה