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Bava Kamma 71a

בבא קמא ע״א ע״א

Learn Bava Kamma 71a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Paying the fourfold or fivefold fine (תשלומי ארבעה וחמשה) when the thief's slaughter or sale also breaks another איסור. The focus is slaughtering on יום הכפורים and whether you can get both a punishment and a payment.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an earlier point: a thief's sale counts as a sale because he really transfers ownership. Next comes the משנה's rule that a thief who slaughters on יום הכפורים pays ארבעה וחמשה. The גמרא asks how this can be, since that act brings מלקות, and it answers that the משנה follows רבי מאיר, who holds לוקה ומשלם but not מת ומשלם. A ברייתא seems to show רבי מאיר making a thief pay even for slaughtering on שבת. The גמרא explains that the ברייתא speaks of a thief who had an agent slaughter for him. פסוקים teach that an agent's slaughter counts, and רב אשי explains why this is not the agent doing 'more' than the thief. The חכמים who exempt are רבי שמעון, who holds that an unfit slaughter is not a slaughter. A שבת slaughter counts as unfit for him because he follows רבי יוחנן הסנדלר, who forbids food made on שבת on purpose, based on 'כי קדש הוא לכם'. The amud ends with רב אחא and רבינא arguing whether מעשה שבת is forbidden from the Torah or only by the רבנן, and a question that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אֲפִילּוּ הָכִי

Even so,

כֵּיוָן דְּקָא מַקְנֵי לֵיהּ בְּהָכִי –

since he transfers ownership to him in this manner,

הָוְיָא מְכִירָה.

it is considered a sale.

גָּנַב וְטָבַח בְּיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים וְכוּ׳.

If he stole and slaughtered on Yom Kippur, etc.

The steps (28)

  1. ConclusionA limited sale still counts as a sale
  2. StatementThe משנה: stealing and slaughtering on יום הכפורים
  3. ChallengeWhy pay if he gets lashes?
  4. ResolutionThe משנה follows רבי מאיר
  5. ChallengeThen why is slaughtering on שבת exempt?
  6. ResolutionA possible answer: lashes and payment, but not death and payment
  7. ChallengeA ברייתא shows רבי מאיר makes a death-penalty thief pay
  8. ResolutionThe ברייתא speaks of a thief who had someone else slaughter
  9. ChallengeHow can one person sin and another person pay?
  10. Resolutionרבא: The פסוק links slaughtering to selling, which always involves another person
  11. ProofTwo more sources that include the agent
  12. ChallengeCan an agent create liability the thief himself would not have?
  13. ResolutionThe thief himself is liable but gets the bigger punishment
  14. ChallengeThen why do the רבנן exempt the thief?
  15. ResolutionThe חכמים are רבי שמעון: an unfit slaughter is not counted as slaughter
  16. ChallengeBut slaughtering on שבת does make the meat kosher
  17. Resolutionרבי שמעון follows רבי יוחנן הסנדלר
  18. ProofThe משנה about cooking on שבת
  19. Proofרבי יוחנן הסנדלר: on-purpose cooking on שבת is forbidden forever
  20. QuestionWhat is רבי יוחנן הסנדלר's source?
  21. Responseרבי חייא compares food made on שבת to קדש
  22. ChallengeThen benefit should be forbidden too
  23. Resolution'לכם' means benefit is allowed
  24. ChallengeMaybe even a mistaken act forbids the food?
  25. Resolution'מחלליה מות יומת' limits it to on-purpose acts
  26. Statementרב אחא and רבינא disagree about the level of the prohibition
  27. StatementThe source behind each side
  28. ChallengeOpening a question that works well for the Torah-level view