Bava Kamma 112a

בבא קמא קי״ב ע״א

Learn Bava Kamma 112a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

What heirs owe for property their father took: stolen goods, רבית money, and a borrowed cow.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an answer that defends רמי בר חמא's rule that an heir is like a buyer: heirs must return a stolen item only before the owner gave up hope (לפני יאוש). Then רב אדא בר אהבה gives another version, in which רמי בר חמא learned his rule from a ברייתא saying heirs need not return רבית money. רבא rejects that proof, because the Torah commands only the lender himself to return רבית, not his son. Next, two ברייתות discuss a thief's children who eat or inherit stolen food. רבא and רב פפא each reread one of them so it makes sense. רבא then rules on heirs left a borrowed cow, and the גמרא connects his ruling to רב פפא's view about when a borrower becomes liable. A third ברייתא learns from 'אשר גזל' that the actual stolen item must be returned, and it brings סומכוס's view that minors are exempt. The amud ends with a story: רבי ירמיה's brother-in-law shuts him out of a house, and רבי אבין's response continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (20)

1. ResolutionFinishing the answer for רמי בר חמא: the case is before despair
2. StatementSecond version: רמי בר חמא's rule taught on the רבית ברייתא
3. Rejectionרבא: the interest case is special because of the פסוק
4. ConclusionHow the two versions relate to each other
5. StatementA teaching about a thief whose children eat or inherit stolen food
6. ChallengeHow can 'we don't know' be enough to exempt them?
7. Resolutionרבא: the heirs are sure their father paid
8. StatementA second teaching: even minors must pay
9. ChallengeHow can minors be liable?
10. Resolutionרב פפא: the food has not been eaten yet
11. Statementרבא's rules about a borrowed cow left to heirs
12. StatementTwo versions of where the land rule belongs
13. StatementWhat each version means and how it relates to רב פפא
14. Statementרב פפא on a stolen cow versus a borrowed cow slaughtered on שבת
15. StatementA new ברייתא: return the very item that was robbed
16. StatementRobber's children who ate the stolen food versus children who inherited it
17. StatementStory: רבי ירמיה is shut out by his brother-in-law
18. Statementרבי אבין: the brother-in-law is claiming his own property
19. Challengeרבי ירמיה offers witnesses that he took possession earlier
20. Rejectionרבי אבין questions whether the witnesses can be accepted