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Bava Kamma 113b

בבא קמא קי״ג ע״ב

Learn Bava Kamma 113b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Honesty with non-Jews: robbery, lost items and business mistakes, דינא דמלכותא דינא and taxes, possibly stolen animals, and testifying for a גוי against a Jew.

Overview

This amud deals with honest dealings with non-Jews. A ברייתא requires a fair reckoning with the non-Jewish owner of a Jewish slave. רב יוסף's attempt to limit this to a גר תושב is knocked down by אביי, so רבא splits the cases differently: actual גזל is forbidden, while letting a loan go unpaid is not. Next, רבי שמעון חסידא rules that robbing a גוי is forbidden but his lost item need not be returned, unless keeping it causes חילול השם. שמואל allows keeping a גוי's own business mistake, and stories about שמואל, רב כהנא, רבינא and רב אשי illustrate this. The גמרא then discusses שמואל's rule דינא דמלכותא דינא, proving it from the king's bridges and applying it to tax collection. רבא forbids buying animals from pen keepers near town, since they may be stolen. The amud ends with רבא's announcement that a Jew who volunteers testimony for a גוי against a fellow Jew in a gentile court is put in נידוי, and the reason continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

שֶׁלֹּא יִמְשְׁכֶנּוּ וְיֵצֵא.

That one should not pull him out so that he leaves.

יָכוֹל יִגְלוֹם עָלָיו?

One might think he may shortchange him?

תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: ״וְחִשַּׁב עִם קֹנֵהוּ״

So the verse says: "And he shall reckon with his buyer"

יְדַקְדֵּק עִם קוֹנֵהוּ!

He must be exact with his buyer!

The steps (38)

  1. ChallengeYou must deal honestly with the owner of a Jewish slave
  2. Resolutionרב יוסף: a regular גוי versus a גר תושב
  3. Challengeאביי: the פסוק mentions both side by side
  4. ChallengeThe same section includes a regular גוי
  5. Resolutionרבא's new answer: robbery versus cancelling a loan
  6. Challengeאביי objects: a Hebrew slave is just like a loan
  7. Resolutionרבא holds that a Hebrew slave's body is owned
  8. StatementRobbing a non-Jew is forbidden, but his lost item may be kept
  9. ProofThe source that robbing a non-Jew is forbidden
  10. ProofThe source that a non-Jew's lost item need not be returned
  11. ChallengeMaybe the exemption only covers an item not yet picked up
  12. ResolutionThe word 'and you found it' covers an item already in hand
  13. StatementWhere there is חילול השם, even a lost item must be returned
  14. Statementשמואל: a גוי's business mistake may be kept
  15. Proofשמואל buys a gold bowl at the price of iron
  16. Proofרב כהנא buys 120 barrels for the price of 100
  17. Proofרבינא takes the thicker logs from the trunk
  18. Proofרב אשי asks for grapes only if they belong to a גוי
  19. ChallengeThe גוי asks: is a גוי's property permitted?
  20. Resolutionרב אשי: a גוי accepts payment, a Jew does not
  21. Statementשמואל's rule: the law of the kingdom is the law
  22. Proofרבא's proof from the king's bridges
  23. Rejectionאביי: maybe the owners simply gave up hope
  24. Resolutionרבא: giving up hope only works because the king's law is valid
  25. ChallengeBut the officials don't follow the king's orders
  26. ResolutionThe king's agent is like the king, and the owners can collect from others
  27. StatementWhoever is at the threshing floor pays the king's share
  28. StatementThis applies to a partner, not a sharecropper
  29. StatementOne townsman can be made to give security for another's tax
  30. StatementOnly for this year's taxes
  31. StatementDo not buy from those who keep pens inside the town limits
  32. QuestionWhy is it forbidden?
  33. ResponseThe town's animals get mixed in with theirs
  34. StatementOutside the town limits it is allowed
  35. StatementIf the owners chased their animals, it is forbidden even outside
  36. Statementרבא's public ruling: excommunicate a Jew who testifies for a gentile against a fellow Jew
  37. QuestionWhy is he excommunicated?
  38. ResponseBecause gentile courts take away money