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Bava Kamma 41b

בבא קמא מ״א ע״ב

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Topic

The laws learned from ״לא יאכל את בשרו״ and ״בעל השור נקי״: the bans on a slaughtered שור הנסקל and its hide, and רבי אליעזר's exemption from half the כופר.

Overview

The גמרא finishes defending רבי אבהו's view that ״לא יאכל את בשרו״ forbids a שור הנסקל even if it was properly slaughtered. It rejects the idea that this applies only to slaughter with a flint, because a flint is as valid as a knife for שחיטה. Then it explains that ״בעל השור נקי״ adds a ban on benefit from the hide. תנאים who use that phrase for something else learn the hide ban from the extra word ״אֶת״ in ״אֶת בְּשָׂרוֹ״. The תנא who does not learn from ״אֶת״ is backed by the story of שמעון העמסוני, who stopped expounding ״אֶת״ until רבי עקיבא explained it. Next, רבי אליעזר reads ״בעל השור נקי״ as freeing the owner of a שור תם from half the כופר. When רבי עקיבא says this is obvious, רבי אליעזר answers with cases where the ox is not stoned: proof by one witness or by the owner's admission (since כופר is כפרה, not קנס), or an ox that meant to kill something else. The amud ends as רב כהנא and רב טביומי argue which answer came first, and a fisherman משל that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

הֵיכָא דְּבָדַק צוּר

Where he checked a flint

וְשָׁחַט בּוֹ –

and slaughtered with it,

דְּעַבְדֵיהּ כְּעֵין סְקִילָה,

since he did to it something like stoning,

אֲבָל הֵיכָא דְּשַׁחְטֵיהּ בְּסַכִּין – לָא!

but where he slaughtered it with a knife – not!

The steps (18)

  1. ChallengeMaybe the ban applies only when he slaughtered with a flint
  2. RejectionThe Torah never requires a knife, and a flint is valid
  3. QuestionThen why do we need 'the owner of the ox shall be clear'?
  4. ResponseIt teaches that benefit from the hide is also forbidden
  5. QuestionWhere do the other תנאים learn that the hide is forbidden?
  6. ResponseThe hide ban comes from the extra word ״אֶת״
  7. StatementThe other opinion does not learn from ״אֶת״
  8. ProofThe story of שמעון העמסוני who stopped expounding ״אֶת״
  9. Statementרבי עקיבא: ״אֶת״ includes תלמידי חכמים
  10. Statementרבי אליעזר: The owner is free from half the ransom
  11. Challengeרבי עקיבא: That is obvious, since a תם pays only from its own body
  12. Resolutionרבי אליעזר: The ox was not put to death
  13. ChallengeThe owner's admission already exempts him from a fine
  14. ResolutionRansom is atonement, not a fine
  15. ResolutionAnother answer: the ox meant to kill something else
  16. QuestionWhich answer came first?
  17. ResponseTwo views in the name of רבא
  18. Statementרב כהנא's view explained with a fisherman