Bava Kamma 42b

בבא קמא מ״ב ע״ב

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Topic

Why רבי עקיבא needs 'בעל השור נקי' for a slave killed by a שור תם, and who receives payment for a killed woman.

Overview

Earlier, רבי עקיבא read 'בעל השור נקי' to mean that the owner of a שור תם that kills an עבד pays nothing. The גמרא asks how that can be needed, since a תם pays only from its own body anyway. רב שמואל בר רב יצחק says the case is one where the owner slaughtered the ox first. The גמרא then shows that case needs no פסוק, so that answer falls. רב אסי suggests the פסוק stops payment from the owner's best property, but רבי זירא disproves this from another ברייתא of רבי עקיבא. רבא explains that because the Torah is stricter with an עבד (always thirty סלעים), we might have made a תם pay, and a ברייתא of רבי עקיבא supports him. A new ברייתא then teaches that payment for a killed woman goes to her heirs. ריש לקיש limits this to כופר, which counts as ראוי. The גמרא starts to challenge him from a ברייתא about a woman who miscarried, which continues on the next עמוד.

Opening lines

The steps (21)

1. Challengeרבי עקיבא's own challenge turned against him
2. ResolutionThe verse speaks of an owner who slaughtered the ox first
3. ChallengeThen the same answer works for רבי אליעזר
4. Resolutionרבי עקיבא hoped for a better explanation
5. ChallengeWhy didn't רבי אליעזר use the 'slaughtered first' answer?
6. Resolutionרבי אליעזר: only my case needs a פסוק
7. ChallengeThe same logic undoes the answer for רבי עקיבא
8. Resolutionרב אסי: the פסוק prevents paying from the owner's best property
9. Challengeרבי זירא: רבי עקיבא himself says a תם pays only from its body
10. Resolutionרבא's new reason why the verse is needed
11. ProofA ברייתא that matches רבא
12. ChallengeCouldn't we learn this from logic?
13. ChallengeA קל וחומר makes it even stronger
14. RejectionThe Torah is stricter with a slave, so the verse is needed
15. QuestionWhy does the verse about a forewarned ox say 'a man or a woman'?
16. ResponseA woman is compared to a man: payment goes to her heirs
17. ChallengeBut רבי עקיבא holds that a husband inherits his wife
18. Resolutionריש לקיש: the husband does not inherit כופר because it counts as 'due'
19. ProofSource that כופר is paid only after death
20. ChallengeDoesn't רבי עקיבא say the same about damages?
21. ProofThe ברייתא about a woman who was struck and miscarried