Bava Kamma 114a

בבא קמא קי״ד ע״א

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Topic

When a Jew is put in נידוי for hurting a fellow Jew through a gentile court or a gentile buyer: limits on the rule about a single witness, רב אשי's unresolved question about an אדם חשוב, and selling land to a גוי next to a Jew's field.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a rule from the previous amud: a Jew who testifies alone against a fellow Jew in a gentile court is put in נידוי. The rule is limited to a single witness, and only in a village court; the official court only imposes an oath on one witness, as the תורה does. רב אשי's question about an אדם חשוב, whom the gentiles trust like two witnesses, ends in תיקו. רב אשי then rules that a Jew who sells land to a גוי next to a fellow Jew's field is put in נידוי. The reason is not דינא דבר מצרא. It is that he 'placed a lion on the border,' and the נידוי lasts until he accepts responsibility for any harm the buyer causes. A new משנה follows: items swapped by customs collectors or bandits, or rescued from a river, soldiers or bandits, belong to the person who has them, because the owners gave up hope (יאוש). The משנה also gives rules about chasing a swarm of bees into someone else's field. The גמרא discusses whether יאוש alone transfers ownership, and how a Jewish or non-Jewish robber affects the owner's hope. It then brings the משנה in כלים about hides held by a גזלן or a גנב. עולא and רבה argue about how far the dispute between the תנא קמא and רבי שמעון reaches, and the גמרא tests their argument against our משנה and a ברייתא about הקדש and תרומה. The amud ends with a second answer: the ברייתא follows רבי, who says a thief is like a robber.

Opening lines

The steps (43)

1. StatementThe rule applies only to a single witness
2. StatementEven a single witness is only a problem in a village court
3. QuestionMay an important person whom the gentiles trust like two witnesses testify?
4. ConclusionThe question stays unresolved
5. StatementSelling land to a גוי next to a fellow Jew's field brings נידוי
6. QuestionWhat is the reason? Maybe דינא דבר מצרא
7. Rejectionדינא דבר מצרא does not apply to sales involving a גוי
8. ResponseThe real reason: you placed a lion on my border
9. ConclusionThe נידוי lasts until he accepts responsibility for any harm
10. StatementCustoms collectors or bandits swap your item: you may keep it
11. StatementRescuing items from a river, soldiers or bandits, and a swarm of bees
12. StatementRules about chasing your bees into a friend's field
13. StatementThe son says: he may cut the branch and pay
14. StatementA ברייתא: if he took it, he returns it
15. ResolutionReading one: giving up hope alone does not transfer ownership
16. StatementReading two: if he wants to return it, he returns it
17. ResponseWhy it is optional: giving up hope does transfer ownership
18. ConclusionIf he does not want what is not his, he returns it to the first owner
19. Statementרב אשי limits the משנה to a non-Jewish bandit
20. Challengeרב יוסף argues the opposite makes more sense
21. ResolutionMoving רב אשי's statement to the second half of the משנה
22. ConclusionThe corrected version of רב אשי's statement
23. StatementA משנה about whose thought makes hides able to become impure
24. Statementרבי שמעון reverses the robber and thief cases
25. Statementעולא limits the dispute to unclear cases
26. Statementרבה says they argue even in known cases
27. Challengeאביי supports עולא from the wording of the mishna
28. Resolutionרבה reads the mishna with different words
29. QuestionWhose view is the customs-collector mishna?
30. ChallengeThe משנה Fits Neither the רבנן Nor רבי שמעון
31. ResolutionAccording to עולא There Is No Problem
32. ChallengeAccording to רבה the משנה Fits No One
33. ResolutionThe Bandits Are Armed, So the משנה Follows רבי שמעון
34. ChallengeThen the Bandit Case Repeats the Robber Case
35. ResolutionThe משנה Teaches Two Kinds of Robbers
36. ProofA new ברייתא: what thieves and robbers set aside counts
37. ChallengeThe ברייתא fits neither side
38. ResolutionFor עולא, the case is a known יאוש
39. ChallengeFor רבה, the problem remains
40. ResolutionThe thief here is an armed bandit
41. ChallengeThen he is just a robber
42. ResolutionTwo kinds of robbers
43. ResolutionAnother answer: the ברייתא follows רבי, who says a thief is like a robber