Gemara Clarity

Bava Kamma 102b

בבא קמא ק״ב ע״ב

Learn Bava Kamma 102b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Kamma 102b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

A שליח who changes his instructions, whether a seller must know about the sender, and buying a field in someone else's name

Overview

Someone gave money to a שליח to buy wheat, and the שליח bought barley instead (or the reverse). Two ברייתות disagree about who gets the profit, though both put any loss on the שליח. רבי יוחנן says one ברייתא follows רבי מאיר (שינוי קונה) and the other follows רבי יהודה (שינוי אינו קונה). רבי אלעזר disagrees and says both follow רבי מאיר: one is about grain bought to eat, the other about grain bought to sell. The scholars of ארץ ישראל mock רבי יוחנן's version of רבי יהודה, since the seller never knew about the sender. רבי אבהו explains that a שליח who keeps his mission counts as the sender himself, and he tries to prove it from a משנה in ערכין about a wife's clothes. רבי אבא rejects that proof and, after challenges from רבי זירא and רב אושעיא, settles on a new reason: the family's clothes count as already given to them. Finally the גמרא brings a ברייתא about buying a field in someone else's name. רב ששת's reading, using the name of the ריש גלותא, is rejected, and אביי begins a new reading that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לִיקַּח לוֹ חִטִּין –

[If he gave money to his agent] to buy wheat for him,

וְלָקַח מֵהֶם שְׂעוֹרִין,

and he bought barley with it;

שְׂעוֹרִין – וְלָקַח מֵהֶם חִטִּין;

[or to buy] barley, and he bought wheat with it:

תַּנְיָא חֲדָא:

It is taught in one [ברייתא]:

The steps (23)

  1. ChallengeTwo ברייתות disagree about an agent who bought the wrong grain
  2. Resolutionרבי יוחנן: each ברייתא follows a different תנא
  3. ResolutionThe reason: שינוי קונה versus שינוי אינו קונה
  4. Challengeרבי אלעזר: maybe רבי מאיר's rule does not apply to goods bought for resale
  5. Resolutionרבי אלעזר's own answer: both ברייתות follow רבי מאיר
  6. ChallengeThe scholars in ארץ ישראל laugh at רבי יוחנן's version of רבי יהודה
  7. Challengeרב שמואל בר ססרטי pushes back: then no שליח could ever buy anything
  8. Resolutionרבי אבהו: a שליח doing his job counts as the owner himself
  9. ProofProof from a משנה: items bought for wife and children are not taken by הקדש
  10. ProofThe husband is like his wife's hand, so the agent is like the buyer's hand
  11. RejectionThe real reason: he never meant to give his family's clothes
  12. ChallengeBut תפילין are included even though he didn't think of them
  13. Resolutionתפילין feel like a מצוה, but taking family clothes causes bad feelings
  14. ChallengeBut the משנה also covers ערכין, where the Temple takes by force
  15. ChallengeNobody wants his things seized, yet they are seized
  16. ResolutionNew reason: the clothes count as already given to the family
  17. StatementA ברייתא about buying a field in someone else's name
  18. QuestionWhat does the ברייתא mean?
  19. Responseרב ששת: the buyer used the name of the ריש גלותא
  20. ChallengeDoes the ברייתא clash with the view of the scholars of the West?
  21. ResolutionThe buyer told the seller and the witnesses
  22. ChallengeWhy should a condition bind the ריש גלותא?
  23. Resolutionאביי begins a new reading of the ברייתא