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Bava Kamma 37b

בבא קמא ל״ז ע״ב

Learn Bava Kamma 37b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

How an ox becomes a מועד through patterns of victims, days, dates and triggers, and liability when an ox of הקדש or of a גוי is involved.

Overview

The amud opens with four linked questions about how a goring ox becomes a מועד. In each one, a single goring could complete either a 'same type' group of three or a 'mixed' group of three. Two of the questions are about the species of the victims, and two are about days of the week. The גמרא cannot decide them, and they end in תיקו. Next, an ox that gores on a date that moves forward one day each month is tied to the dispute of רב and שמואל about a woman's וסת. רבא then rules that an ox that gores three times after hearing a שופר becomes a מועד for שופרות, even though the first goring might have been just a fright. A new משנה follows: when הקדש is involved there is no payment, a Jew's ox that gores a גוי's ox is פטור, and a גוי's ox that gores a Jew's ox pays full damages. The גמרא says the משנה does not follow רבי שמעון בן מנסיא, who makes an ordinary ox that harms הקדש pay in full even as a תם. A קל וחומר explanation fails because of דיו, so ריש לקיש explains that full damages is the default and 'רעהו' only limits the half-damage discount of a תם.

Opening lines

שׁוֹר, שׁוֹר וָשׁוֹר,

An ox, an ox, and an ox,

חֲמוֹר וְגָמָל, מַהוּ?

then a donkey and a camel: what is the law?

הַאי שׁוֹר בָּתְרָא –

This last ox:

בָּתַר שְׁווֹרִים שָׁדֵינַן לֵיהּ,

do we group it with the oxen,

The steps (18)

  1. QuestionThree oxen, then a donkey and a camel
  2. QuestionA donkey and a camel, then three oxen
  3. QuestionThree שבת gorings, then Sunday and Monday
  4. QuestionThursday, Friday, שבת, then two more שבתות
  5. ConclusionThe questions stay unresolved
  6. StatementAn ox goring on the 15th, 16th and 17th of three months
  7. StatementThe source: רב and שמואל on a moving וסת
  8. StatementAn ox that gores when it hears a shofar
  9. QuestionIsn't that obvious?
  10. ResolutionThe first goring was not just from fright
  11. Statementמשנה: No payment when an ox of הקדש is involved
  12. Statementמשנה: When a Jew's ox and a גוי's ox gore each other
  13. StatementOur משנה does not follow רבי שמעון בן מנסיא
  14. Statementרבי שמעון בן מנסיא splits the two cases
  15. ChallengeHow can רבי שמעון split the cases?
  16. ResolutionA suggested answer: a קל וחומר
  17. RejectionThe rule of דיו defeats the קל וחומר
  18. Resolutionריש לקיש: Full damages is the default, and the half-damage discount applies only to 'רעהו'