Bava Kamma 28a

בבא קמא כ״ח ע״א

Learn Bava Kamma 28a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Can a person take the law into his own hands (עָבֵיד אִינִישׁ דִּינָא לְנַפְשֵׁיהּ)? Proofs on both sides are rejected, and then a new משנה begins about a jug that breaks in the street.

Overview

The גמרא continues the argument between רב נחמן, who holds that a person may take the law into his own hands, and רב יהודה, who holds that he must go to בית דין. First it answers the proof from בן בג בג in two ways: he is a lone opinion, or 'break his teeth' means in court, though that second reading has a wording problem. Then the גמרא tries one proof after another from sources about an ox on top of another ox, jugs filling a courtyard, and a נרצע who refuses to leave. Every proof is pushed away, usually by showing that the person acting faced a real loss or had another reason to act. Next come proofs for רב יהודה from a jug in the street, the woman who grabs her husband's attacker, a public road moved to the side of a field, and פאה taken from the wrong side. These are also turned aside: 'stumbled' is said only to match the end of the משנה, she pays only when she had another way to save him, the road rule comes from the problem of a crooked path, and 'both are פאה' only means both are free from מעשר. Finally a new משנה begins, about a jug that breaks in the street and causes someone to slip or get hurt. רב starts to explain that the jug owner is liable only for clothes dirtied by the water, and his statement continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (33)

1. Resolutionבן בג בג is only a lone opinion
2. Resolutionרבי ינאי: 'Break his teeth' means in court
3. ChallengeThe wording doesn't fit רבי ינאי's reading
4. ProofNew proof for רב נחמן: the ox on top
5. RejectionThe ox case may be about a תם, where there is a loss
6. ChallengeThe end of the ברייתא makes a תם reading difficult
7. ResolutionHe is liable because he could have just pulled his ox away
8. ProofNew proof: a courtyard filled with jugs
9. RejectionBreaking the jugs only to reach court
10. ProofA master pushing out a slave whose time is up
11. RejectionThe case is a slave who steals
12. ChallengeWhy Would the Slave Only Start Stealing Now?
13. ResolutionUntil Now He Feared His Master
14. ResolutionA Second Answer: The Slave Was Given a שפחה כנענית
15. ProofA Proof from the Jug in the Street
16. RejectionBreaking It on Purpose Is Also Exempt
17. ProofProof from the woman who must pay for grabbing the attacker
18. RejectionShe pays only when she had another way
19. ChallengeThen why didn't the ברייתא say so in her own case?
20. ResolutionThat is exactly what the ברייתא means
21. ProofNew proof: the man who moved a public road off his field
22. ProofWhy can't the owner just block the old road with a stick?
23. Rejectionרב זביד: It is a rabbinic decree in case he gives a crooked path
24. Rejectionרב משרשיא: The משנה is about a case where he really gave a crooked path
25. Rejectionרב אשי: Any path on the side counts as crooked
26. ChallengeWhy can't the owner take back the path he gave?
27. ResolutionA path the public already uses may not be ruined
28. ProofA new proof: פאה taken from the wrong side
29. ProofThe owner should be able to guard his field with a stick
30. RejectionBoth are פאה only to free them from מעשר
31. ProofA ברייתא shows that ownerless produce is free from מעשר
32. StatementThe משנה about a jug that breaks in the public street
33. Statementרב limits the liability to when the victim's clothes got dirty