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Bava Kamma 60b

בבא קמא ס׳ ע״ב

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Topic

Advice for times of danger (plague and famine), רבי יצחק נפחא's fire teaching of אשו משום חציו, and דוד's halachic question about the stacks of barley

Overview

This amud opens with practical advice drawn from the פסוק about the night of מכת בכורות: travel in daylight, and during a plague (דבר) stay indoors. The גמרא explains why a ברייתא brings three פסוקים for this, and it tells us that רבא even shut his windows. In a famine the advice flips: leave the city, even if leaving is risky. More ברייתות follow about the מלאך המות: where to walk on the road, not entering an empty בית הכנסת alone, and what crying or playing dogs signal. Next, רבי יצחק נפחא is pulled between one student who wants הלכה and one who wants אגדה. He gives a single פסוק about fire that satisfies both: הקדוש ברוך הוא will 'pay' for the fire of ציון, and the rule of אשו משום חציו. Finally, the גמרא brings three explanations of what דוד was really asking when he longed for water from בית לחם. It then tests those explanations against the פסוקים, and the challenge to רב נחמן's view continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לְעוֹלָם יִכָּנֵס אָדָם בְּ״כִי טוֹב״

A person should always enter at "it is good"

וְיֵצֵא בְּ״כִי טוֹב״,

and leave at "it is good",

שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וְאַתֶּם לֹא תֵצְאוּ אִישׁ

as it is stated: "And none of you shall go out

מִפֶּתַח בֵּיתוֹ עַד בֹּקֶר״.

of the opening of his house until morning."

The steps (34)

  1. StatementEnter and leave a place while it is light
  2. StatementDuring a plague, stay indoors: three verses
  3. QuestionWhy bring extra verses?
  4. ResponseThe second verse: the rule applies by day too
  5. ResponseThe third verse: stay inside even if it is frightening there
  6. Statementרבא closed his windows during a plague
  7. StatementIn a famine, leave the city
  8. QuestionWhy bring the second verse?
  9. ResponseLeave even when leaving is risky
  10. StatementIn a plague, avoid the middle of the road
  11. StatementIn peaceful times, avoid the sides of the road
  12. StatementDuring a plague, do not enter a synagogue alone
  13. StatementThe synagogue danger applies only when it is empty of learning and prayer
  14. StatementWhat crying dogs and playing dogs signal
  15. StatementThe dog signs count only when no female dog is around
  16. StatementTwo students pull רבי יצחק נפחא in opposite directions
  17. StatementThe parable of the man with two wives
  18. StatementOne teaching for both students: God pays for the fire He lit
  19. ProofGod burned ציון and will rebuild it with fire
  20. StatementThe הלכה: a person's fire is like his arrows
  21. Statementדוד longs for water from the well of בית לחם
  22. QuestionWhat was דוד asking?
  23. ResponseFirst answer: hidden items burned by fire
  24. ResponseSecond answer: saving yourself with someone else's property
  25. ResponseForbidden for others, but a king is different
  26. ResponseThird answer: trading barley for lentils
  27. ResponseThe reply to דוד: one who pays is still wicked, but a king may make a path
  28. ProofThe two verses about lentils and barley fit the exchange view
  29. ChallengeHow does the burning view explain the two verses?
  30. ResolutionThere were lentil stacks hiding פלשתים too
  31. Proof'And he saved it' fits the burning view
  32. ChallengeWhat does 'and he saved it' mean for the exchange view?
  33. ResolutionHe saved it by not letting them exchange
  34. ProofBoth views so far explain why there are two verses