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Bava Kamma 39a

בבא קמא ל״ט ע״א

Learn Bava Kamma 39a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Why a fine goes to the victim, and a new משנה about oxen owned by a חרש, שוטה, or קטן: when a guardian is appointed, and whose property pays when their ox is a מועד.

Overview

The amud opens with the end of an earlier discussion: the fine goes to the victim so that the sinner gains nothing. רב מרי explains why the money is not simply given to the poor: money owed to 'the poor' in general has no one who can demand it. Then a new משנה teaches that a פקח whose ox gores the ox of a חרש, שוטה, or קטן must pay, but in the reverse case the owner is פטור. If their ox keeps goring, בית דין appoints an אפוטרופוס, and רבי מאיר and רבי יוסי argue about whether the ox stays a מועד once the owner becomes competent. The משנה also rules that a stadium ox that kills is not put to death. The גמרא asks how the משנה can both exempt these owners and appoint a guardian. רבא answers that the guardian is appointed only for oxen already known to gore, to make them מועד. רבי יוחנן and רבי יוסי בר חנינא then argue over whose best property pays, the orphans' or the guardian's. A proposal to swap their opinions is rejected by רבא, who explains that a מזיק is different from a normal debt, and the explanation continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

שֶׁלֹּא יְהֵא חוֹטֵא נִשְׂכָּר.

So that the sinner should not be rewarded.

וְנִתְּבֵיהּ לַעֲנִיִּים!

Then let him give it to the poor!

אָמַר רַב מָרִי:

Rav Mari said:

מִשּׁוּם דְּהָוֵי מָמוֹן שֶׁאֵין לוֹ תּוֹבְעִים.

Because it is money that has no claimants.

The steps (16)

  1. ConclusionThe sinner should not profit
  2. ChallengeWhy not give the money to the poor?
  3. Resolutionרב מרי: money with no one to claim it
  4. Statementמשנה: oxen of competent and non-competent owners
  5. StatementAppointing a guardian when their ox gores
  6. StatementWhen the owner becomes competent, the ox goes back to being a תם
  7. Statementרבי יוסי: the ox keeps its forewarned status
  8. StatementA stadium ox that kills is not put to death
  9. ChallengeThe two halves of the משנה seem to contradict each other
  10. Resolutionרבא: the guardian is appointed only for oxen known to gore
  11. QuestionWhose best property pays?
  12. ResponseTwo views: the orphans' property or the guardian's
  13. Challengeרבי יוחנן elsewhere says the court does not collect from orphans
  14. ResolutionSwitch the two opinions
  15. Rejectionרבא rejects swapping the opinions
  16. ResolutionKeep the original version: a damager is different