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Bava Kamma 99b

בבא קמא צ״ט ע״ב

Learn Bava Kamma 99b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Craftsmen who ruin their work: betrothing with wages, the expert butcher, and the money changer's mistake

Overview

The amud opens with רבא's explanation of the argument between רבי מאיר and the רבנן about a craftsman who betroths a woman with his wages. Everyone agrees that a wage is a debt and that betrothing with a debt fails. The argument is only about a case where he also added a jewel of his own: is her mind on the jewel or on the loan? The גמרא then shows that the same split appears in a three-way ברייתא of תנאים. Next, שמואל rules that an expert butcher who ruins the שחיטה must pay, even when he works for free, and explains that he follows רבי מאיר, who holds that one who stumbles is פושע. רבי יוחנן's rulings are reconciled by splitting the cases: a paid butcher pays, and an unpaid expert is exempt. After a story about רב and a badly slaughtered animal, the גמרא turns to a money changer who approves a bad coin. Only a top expert who erred on a brand-new coin is exempt. רבי חייא paid such a woman anyway, acting לפנים משורת הדין, and רב יוסף's source for this begins at the end of the amud and continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

רָבָא אָמַר:

Rava said:

דְּכוּלֵּי עָלְמָא יֶשְׁנָהּ לִשְׂכִירוּת

Everyone agrees that wages are owed

מִתְּחִילָּה וְעַד סוֹף,

from the beginning to the end,

וּדְכוּלֵּי עָלְמָא הַמְקַדֵּשׁ בְּמִלְוָה

and everyone agrees that one who betroths with a loan,

The steps (37)

  1. Statementרבא says everyone agrees on all three earlier points
  2. ResolutionThe case is where he added a jewel of his own
  3. ProofThis is the same as a dispute of תנאים: past work versus future work
  4. Proofרבי יהודה הנשיא: adding a jewel makes the betrothal work
  5. QuestionWhat separates the תנא קמא from רבי נתן
  6. QuestionWhat separates רבי נתן from רבי יהודה הנשיא
  7. Statementשמואל: an expert butcher who ruins an animal must pay
  8. QuestionWhy did שמואל need both reasons
  9. Responseפושע teaches that even an unpaid butcher pays
  10. Challengeרב חמא בר גוריא challenges שמואל from a ברייתא
  11. Rejectionשמואל sharply dismisses the challenge
  12. ChallengeA second scholar raises the same objection
  13. Resolutionשמואל explains that his ruling follows רבי מאיר
  14. QuestionWhich ruling of רבי מאיר does שמואל mean?
  15. RejectionThe tied-ox case is about reading פסוקים, not logic
  16. ResponseSecond suggestion: the dyer who used the wrong color
  17. RejectionRejected: the dyer ruined the wool with his own hands
  18. ResponseThird suggestion: the broken jug and the fallen camel
  19. ConclusionTheir argument is whether one who stumbles is careless
  20. Statementרבי יוחנן: even a top expert butcher who ruins the slaughter pays
  21. ChallengeContradiction: רבי יוחנן was ready to exempt an expert
  22. ResolutionAnswer: free work versus paid work
  23. Proofרבי זירא's advice: pay the butcher a דינר up front
  24. ChallengeA ברייתא makes a ruining craftsman liable as if he were paid
  25. ResolutionRead it as 'because he IS a paid watchman'
  26. Statementרב rules on a badly slaughtered animal, and two rabbis comment
  27. QuestionWhat were the 'two things'? Perhaps two rulings against the owner
  28. ChallengeA judge may not reveal that he disagreed with the court
  29. ResolutionThe two things were favors, not losses
  30. ChallengeTwo teachings argue about a money changer's mistake
  31. Resolutionרב פפא: only the top experts are exempt
  32. QuestionHow could such experts make a mistake?
  33. ResponseThey erred on a brand-new coin
  34. Statementרבי חייא swaps a bad coin he approved
  35. ChallengeWhy did an expert like רבי חייא pay?
  36. Resolutionרבי חייא went beyond the letter of the law
  37. Proofרב יוסף's teaching on "and you shall show them"