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Bava Kamma 32b

בבא קמא ל״ב ע״ב

Learn Bava Kamma 32b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Kamma 32b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Welcoming שבת, a wood-chopper's liability for flying chips, and when an accidental killer is exempt from גלות because his act was שוגג קרוב למזיד.

Overview

The amud opens with the end of a short אגדה about welcoming שבת like a bride and a queen, including רבי ינאי's custom of saying 'Come, bride.' Then a new משנה rules that someone chopping wood is liable when a chip causes damage, in every mix of public and private areas. The גמרא explains why all three cases had to be listed. A ברייתא follows about a carpenter whose flying chip kills a visitor. The carpenter is exempt if the visitor came in without permission and liable if he came in with permission. רבי יוסי בר חנינא says the carpenter pays four injury payments but is exempt from גלות. רבא first rejects the reason given for this and then explains it: the killing is שוגג קרוב למזיד, too careless for גלות. The גמרא tests this idea against the lasher who adds a lash and the man who throws a stone into a public area, and narrows each case until it is a plain accident. A second version places רבי יוסי בר חנינא's ruling on the visitor without permission. That leads to a challenge from a smith's sparks, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

״בּוֹאוּ וְנֵצֵא לִקְרַאת כַּלָּה מַלְכְּתָא״.

"Come and let us go out to greet the bride, the queen."

וְאָמְרִי לַהּ:

And some say it this way:

״לִקְרַאת שַׁבָּת – כַּלָּה מַלְכְּתָא״.

"To greet שבת, the bride, the queen."

רַבִּי יַנַּאי מִתְעַטֵּף וְקָאֵי,

Rabbi Yannai would wrap himself and stand,

The steps (33)

  1. StatementGoing out to greet the bride, the queen
  2. Statementרבי ינאי's custom of welcoming שבת
  3. StatementChopping wood that causes damage in another domain
  4. StatementWhy the case of public-to-private was needed
  5. StatementWhy the case of private-to-public was also needed
  6. ConclusionWhy the private-to-private case is also needed
  7. StatementA carpenter's flying chip kills a visitor
  8. QuestionWhat does 'liable' mean here?
  9. ResponseFour payments, but no exile
  10. StatementWhy there is no exile: not like the forest
  11. Challengeרבא's קל וחומר: the carpenter should be exiled even more
  12. ResolutionExile is not enough for him: שוגג קרוב למזיד
  13. ChallengeChallenge from the lasher who added one lash
  14. Resolutionרב שימי: the lasher miscounted
  15. Rejectionרבא rejects it: the lasher doesn't do the counting
  16. Resolutionרב שימי's new answer: the judge himself miscounted
  17. ChallengeChallenge from a stone thrown into a public area
  18. ResolutionAnswer: he was knocking down his own wall
  19. ChallengeBut he should have looked first
  20. ResolutionAnswer: he knocked it down at night
  21. ChallengeEven at night he should have looked
  22. ResolutionHe knocked the wall down by day into a garbage dump
  23. ChallengeWhat kind of garbage dump is this?
  24. Resolutionרב פפא: a dump used at night, with only occasional daytime visitors
  25. StatementSecond version: רבי יוסי בר חנינא's ruling refers to the first clause
  26. StatementWhat the two versions mean for the 'with permission' case
  27. ChallengeChallenge from the smith's sparks
  28. ResolutionThe ברייתא is about the smith's apprentice
  29. ChallengeMay an apprentice be killed?
  30. ResolutionThe master told him to leave
  31. ChallengeRefusing to leave does not justify killing him
  32. ResolutionThe smith thought he had left
  33. ChallengeThen why mention an apprentice at all?