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Bava Kamma 23a

בבא קמא כ״ג ע״א

Learn Bava Kamma 23a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

אשו משום חציו and טמון באש, and the case of the dog, the cake and the coal

Overview

The amud opens as the גמרא finishes a proof from the פסוק that a person's fire counts like his own arrows (אשו משום חציו). אביי then asks a question: if fire is like arrows, how can the Torah ever exempt hidden items (טמון) burned in a fire? His answer is a case where the fence fell for some other reason, so the 'arrows' ran out. The גמרא rejects that answer, because then open items (גלוי) would be exempt too. Instead it says that even the 'arrows' view agrees that fire also counts as one's property (ממונו), and that is where the exemption for טמון applies. The two views then differ only on the four extra payments for injuring a person. Next the גמרא returns to the משנה of the dog that carried off a cake with a coal on it. It explains that the dog's owner pays, that the coal's owner guarded properly, and that the dog dug its way in. רב מרי learns from this that dogs normally dig under doors. Finally, the dog must have eaten the cake on its owner's own stack, and the גמרא starts using this to settle a question about a cow's mouth, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

בְּנִזְקֵי מָמוֹנוֹ,

[The verse opened] with damage done by his property,

וְסִיֵּים בְּנִזְקֵי גוּפוֹ;

and it ended with damage done by his body;

לוֹמַר לְךָ: אִשּׁוֹ מִשּׁוּם חִצָּיו.

to tell you: his fire is [liable] because it is like his arrows.

אָמַר רָבָא,

Rava said,

The steps (18)

  1. ProofThe verse moves from damage by property to damage by the person
  2. Challengeאביי's difficulty: where does the exemption for hidden items fit?
  3. Resolutionאביי's answer: the fence fell, so his arrows ran out
  4. ChallengeChallenge: then open items should be exempt too
  5. ResolutionThe 'arrows' view also counts fire as property
  6. QuestionThen what do the two views disagree about?
  7. ResponseThe difference is the four extra payments
  8. QuestionWho pays for the cake?
  9. ResponseThe dog's owner pays
  10. ChallengeWhy not the coal's owner too?
  11. ResolutionHe guarded his coal properly
  12. ChallengeIf the coal was guarded, how did the dog get in?
  13. ResolutionThe dog dug its way in
  14. StatementOrdinary doors are expected to be dug under by dogs
  15. QuestionWhere did the dog eat the cake?
  16. ChallengeEating in someone else's stack should not make the owner pay
  17. ResolutionThe dog ate it on the cake owner's own stack
  18. ProofUsing this case to settle a question about a cow's mouth