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Bava Basra 95a

בבא בתרא צ״ה ע״א

Bava Batra 95a

Learn Bava Basra 95a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Past the allowed margin, is everything returned or only the excess? Three rejected proofs, then the משנה's case of a wine cellar with souring barrels

Overview

Earlier, the גמרא brought רב הונא's rule that a buyer of produce must accept a small amount of dirt mixed in. It then asked: if there is more dirt than allowed, does the seller deduct all of it, or only the amount above the limit? The גמרא tries three proofs: the משנה about selling a בית כור of land, the laws of אונאה (overcharging), and a planter whose trees fail. Each one at first seems to show that past the limit, everything goes back. Each one is pushed away, because each case has a special reason of its own. Then the גמרא turns to the next case in the משנה, a buyer of a wine cellar who accepts ten souring barrels per hundred. It asks how the sale was worded and finds that a ברייתא fits neither option, so it adds the ten-percent rule to the ברייתא's general 'wine cellar' case. It defends this against רבי חייא's teaching about a single barrel. Then it is challenged again by רב זביד's ברייתא, and the answer comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

הָתָם, ״הֵן חָסֵר הֵן יָתֵיר״ אֲמַר לֵיהּ,

There, he said to him, 'whether less or more,'

מִיהוּ רְבִיעַ לָא חֲשִׁיב;

but a quarter is not significant;

יָתֵר מֵרְבִיעַ – חֲשִׁיב,

more than a quarter is significant,

דְּכֵיוָן דַּחֲזֵי לֵיהּ לְאִיצְטְרוֹפֵי בְּתִשְׁעַת קַבִּין,

for since it is fit to combine into nine קבין,

The steps (14)

  1. RejectionThe land sale is different because the seller said 'more or less'
  2. ResolutionWhy more than a quarter counts as real land
  3. ProofA new proof from the laws of overcharging
  4. QuestionWhy not return just enough to get below a sixth?
  5. ConclusionOnce you must return, you return everything
  6. RejectionThe overcharge case is different: the seller promised a fair price
  7. ProofA new proof from a planter whose trees fail
  8. RejectionToo many failed trees is like planting from scratch
  9. QuestionWhat kind of wine cellar sale does the משנה mean?
  10. ChallengeIf the seller said 'this cellar,' a ברייתא contradicts the משנה
  11. ResolutionThe משנה means 'a wine cellar,' and the ten-percent rule is added to the ברייתא
  12. Challengeרבי חייא says a sold barrel must be all good wine
  13. ResolutionA single barrel is different
  14. Challengeרב זביד's ברייתא puts the ten-percent rule on 'this wine cellar'