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Bava Kamma 74a

בבא קמא ע״ד ע״א

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Topic

How אביי and רבא read the ברייתא about a slave's tooth and eye, and whether it proves that הכחשה תחילת הזמה היא.

Overview

The גמרא is working through a ברייתא about witnesses who say a master injured both the tooth and the eye of his עבד כנעני. Either injury frees the slave, so the order matters: the second injury was done to a free man, and the master must pay for it. First the גמרא explains אביי's reading. In the סיפא, a second set of witnesses agrees the injuries happened but reverses their order and also makes the first set זוממין. It must date the injuries earlier, and the master must already have stood trial, or else the זוממין would owe the whole slave. Then רב אחא asks רב אשי where רבא's proof that הכחשה תחילת הזמה comes from, since in the רישא the middle witnesses were never really contradicted. רב אשי answers that רבא reads the סיפא as a three-set case: a first pair is contradicted, then made זוממין, and still pays, which proves רבא's rule. אביי replies that only the רישא needs three sets, because a slave is happy with any testimony that frees him. Finally רבי זירא starts a new challenge to the ברייתא's basic rule, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מִדְּסֵיפָא בְּמֵיפַךְ וַהֲזַמָּה,

From the fact that the latter clause is about reversal and הזמה,

רֵישָׁא נָמֵי בְּמֵיפַךְ וַהֲזַמָּה.

the first clause is also about reversal and הזמה.

דְּקָתָנֵי סֵיפָא:

As the latter clause teaches:

״מֵעִידַנוּ אֶת אִישׁ פְּלוֹנִי

'We testify about so-and-so

The steps (18)

  1. ProofThe ending of the ברייתא shows what its beginning is about
  2. ProofQuoting the ending of the ברייתא: tooth first, then eye
  3. QuestionWhat is the case? It cannot be that the injuries are denied completely
  4. ResponseSo everyone agrees the injuries happened
  5. ResponseThe second witnesses reversed the order and made the first witnesses זוממין
  6. QuestionWhen did the injuries happen? The later-date option fails
  7. ResponseThe second witnesses must have placed the injuries earlier
  8. RejectionIf the master had not yet stood trial, the full slave would still be owed
  9. ResponseThe master had already stood trial
  10. ChallengeWhere did רבא learn his rule from?
  11. ChallengeThe middle witnesses would have been believed
  12. Resolutionרבא learned from the סיפא, not the רישא
  13. ResolutionDefining the three-set case in the סיפא
  14. ProofWhy would contradicted witnesses pay?
  15. ConclusionContradiction is the start of הזמה
  16. Rejectionאביי agrees the רישא needs three sets of witnesses
  17. RejectionThe סיפא does not need three sets of witnesses
  18. Challengeרבי זירא begins a new challenge to the ברייתא