Gemara Clarity

Bava Basra 8a

בבא בתרא ח׳ ע״א

Bava Batra 8a

Learn Bava Basra 8a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Basra 8a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Who pays for city needs: exemptions for תלמידי חכמים, charges on orphans, and how long until one counts as a resident

Overview

This amud is about who must pay for city needs, and why תלמידי חכמים are often exempt. It finishes רבי יוחנן's reading of 'I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers' and explains why ריש לקיש reads it like רבא. רב נחמן בר יצחק objects to taxing the רבנן and brings proofs from the תורה, the נביאים and the כתובים. Then come rules about city costs: orphans pay for a new well (with their money returned if it fails), everyone pays for gates except the רבנן, and even the רבנן pay for wells but do not join the digging. The story of רבי's storehouses and the humble רבי יונתן בן עמרם leads to רבי's view that troubles come because of עמי הארץ, shown by the crown tax in טבריא. The גמרא then goes back to the משנה's twelve months: רבא tells apart 'members' and 'residents' of a city, and רבי יוחנן limits the twelve months to paying for the city's protection. The general rule is that even orphans pay for anything that benefits them. The amud ends with stories about charity and orphans, and אביי's answer about the 'great מצוה' continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אֵלּוּ תַּלְמִידֵי חֲכָמִים.

these are Torah scholars.

וְרֵישׁ לָקִישׁ,

And Reish Lakish,

סָבַר לַהּ כִּדְדָרֵשׁ רָבָא:

holds in accordance with what Rava expounded:

״אֲנִי חוֹמָה״ – זוֹ כְּנֶסֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל,

"I am a wall" – this is the Congregation of Israel,

The steps (37)

  1. StatementThe towers are the Torah scholars
  2. ResolutionWhy ריש לקיש reads the verse differently
  3. ChallengeTaxing the Sages is challenged
  4. ProofProof from the Torah: His holy ones are in God's hand
  5. Proofרב יוסף: the holy ones are the traveling scholars
  6. ProofProof from the Prophets: עולא's Aramaic reading
  7. ProofThe proof from the Writings: no royal taxes on them
  8. Challengeרב פפא charges orphans for a new well
  9. Resolutionרב פפא will return the money if the well is dry
  10. StatementEveryone pays for city gates, but not the רבנן
  11. StatementEveryone pays for wells, but the רבנן do not dig
  12. Statementרבי opens his storehouses only to those who learn
  13. Questionרבי asks the stranger if he has learned
  14. ResponseFeed me like a dog and a raven
  15. Statementרבי regrets feeding the stranger
  16. Statementרבי's son suggests it was a humble student
  17. ConclusionThe guess is confirmed, and רבי lets everyone in
  18. Statementרבי's view: suffering comes because of the ignorant
  19. ProofThe crown tax in טבריא, first round
  20. ProofSecond round: everyone flees and the tax disappears
  21. Conclusionרבי draws the lesson from the story
  22. StatementBack to the משנה: how long until one counts as a resident
  23. ChallengeA contradiction from the caravan in an idolatrous city
  24. ChallengeThirty days makes the caravan part of the city
  25. ResolutionMembers of the city versus residents of the city
  26. ProofProof from a vow about the people of a city
  27. ChallengeDifferent times for different city charity funds
  28. ResolutionThe משנה's twelve months is only about protection
  29. StatementEveryone pays for protection, even orphans, but not רבנן
  30. Statementרב פפא lists the protection costs
  31. ConclusionThe rule: orphans pay for whatever benefits them
  32. Statementרבה collects charity from orphans
  33. Challengeאביי objects from a teaching that orphans are never charged charity
  34. Resolutionרבה did it to give the orphans standing
  35. StatementThe king's mother sends money for a 'great מצוה'
  36. Questionרב יוסף wonders what a 'great מצוה' is
  37. Responseאביי begins to answer from the same teaching