Bava Metzia 101a

בבא מציעא ק״א ע״א

Learn Bava Metzia 101a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Metzia 101a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Using another person's land without permission: swept-in trees, an ancestral field held by a נכרי, planting a field, and rebuilding a ruin

Overview

After closing an earlier point, the גמרא turns to the משנה's case of olive trees that a river carried into someone else's field. Two reports of ריש לקיש's words explain when the fruit is split and when one side takes all of it, using arguments about ערלה and what each owner could have planted instead. A ברייתא adds that the tree owner may not uproot his trees, and רבי יוחנן says the reason is ישוב ארץ ישראל. Next the גמרא studies רבי יהודה's ruling that one who sharecrops 'שדה אבותיו' for a נכרי must tithe before giving the נכרי his share. After a challenge from a ברייתא about a מציק, the גמרא concludes that the phrase means his own family's field, and that the duty to tithe is a penalty meant to push him to buy the field back. Then רב and שמואל argue about paying someone who planted another person's field without permission, and a story shows how רב's view was learned. Finally, רב נחמן and רב ששת argue whether someone who rebuilt another person's ruin may take back his materials. The final ruling, given by רבי יוחנן, continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (31)

1. ConclusionClosing words of the previous discussion: not counting the expenses
2. Statementריש לקיש limits the case: uprooted with their clods, and after three years
3. StatementDuring the first three years, all the fruit goes to the tree owner
4. ChallengeChallenge: the field owner could have planted his own trees
5. Resolutionרבין's version: split during three years, all to field owner afterward
6. ChallengeWhy can't the tree owner object to splitting in the first three years?
7. ResolutionYoung trees would have let him grow vegetables underneath
8. StatementThe tree owner cannot uproot his trees
9. QuestionWhat is the reason?
10. ResponseBecause of settling ארץ ישראל
11. Conclusionרבי ירמיה praises the explanation
12. StatementA man working his ancestors' field for a non-Jew
13. StatementFirst assumption: 'שדה אבותיו' means any field in ארץ ישראל
14. StatementA non-Jew's ownership does not cancel tithes
15. StatementA sharecropper is like a tenant farmer paying a debt
16. ChallengeWhy does the ברייתא mention a violent seizer?
17. ResolutionA new reading: the נכרי's ownership counts, and a sharecropper is not like a tenant
18. ResolutionHis ancestors' field means his actual family's field
19. StatementThe penalty falls only on the heir, because he loves the field
20. QuestionWhy penalize him at all?
21. Responseרבי יוחנן: so the field will be clearly his
22. Conclusionרבי ירמיה: a ruling like this needs a great sage
23. StatementPlanting in someone else's field without permission
24. Resolutionרב פפא: they talk about two different kinds of fields
25. Statementרב's ruling was learned from a case, not said directly
26. ProofThe field owner says 'I don't want it'
27. ConclusionThe owner guards the trees, so the planter gets the higher amount
28. StatementCan the builder take back his wood and stones?
29. ChallengeDoes רב נחמן follow בית שמאי?
30. Resolutionרב נחמן follows רבי שמעון בן אלעזר
31. QuestionWhat is the final halacha?