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Bava Kamma 22b

בבא קמא כ״ב ע״ב

Learn Bava Kamma 22b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The machlokes between רבי יוחנן (אשו משום חציו, his fire is like his arrows) and ריש לקיש (אשו משום ממונו, his fire is like his property), tested against the משנה of the burning גדיש with a tied עבד or גדי.

Overview

This עמוד tests the מחלוקת between רבי יוחנן, who holds that a person's fire is like his arrows (אשו משום חציו), and ריש לקיש, who holds that it is like his property (אשו משום ממונו). First the גמרא finishes rejecting a proof from the camel-and-lamp case, which depends only on who was careless. Next it brings a משנה: someone who burns a stack with a tied slave is completely exempt. That seems to fit only the arrows view. ריש לקיש answers that he lit the slave's own body, which is murder under every view. The גמרא then explains that this משנה still teaches something new, because the goat and the slave had different owners. A second proof comes from a משנה that exempts someone who sends fire with a חרש, שוטה וקטן. ריש לקיש, quoting חזקיה, limits that משנה to a coal the חרש fanned, while handing over a flame makes the sender liable. רבי יוחנן says even a flame is exempt, unless the sender hands over wood, chips and a lamp. Finally רבא shows that a פסוק supports רבי יוחנן, and he begins quoting a ברייתא that continues on the next עמוד.

Opening lines

רֵישָׁא – בַּעַל גָּמָל חַיָּיב,

In the first clause, the camel owner is liable,

דְּלָא אִיבְּעִי לֵיהּ

because he should not have

לְאַפּוֹשֵׁי בִּטְעִינָה.

overloaded the cargo.

סֵיפָא – חֶנְווֹנִי חַיָּיב,

In the latter clause, the storekeeper is liable,

The steps (12)

  1. RejectionThe camel case is really about who was careless
  2. ProofA new proof from the burning stack with a goat and a slave
  3. ChallengeThe exemption fits the 'arrows' view but seems hard for the 'property' view
  4. Resolutionריש לקיש: he set fire to the slave's body itself
  5. ChallengeWhy would the משנה need to teach something so obvious?
  6. ResolutionThe goat and the slave had different owners
  7. ProofNew proof: sending fire with a חרש, שוטה וקטן
  8. ChallengeThis משנה seems to fit only the arrows view
  9. ResolutionA coal is different from a flame
  10. Statementרבי יוחנן: even a flame is exempt
  11. Proofרבא: the verse supports רבי יוחנן
  12. Proofרבא begins the baraita proof