Gemara Clarity

Bava Metzia 108a

בבא מציעא ק״ח ע״א

Learn Bava Metzia 108a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Metzia 108a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Riverbank rules, who pays for city works, and דינא דבר מצרא: a neighbor's first right to buy bordering land.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing the earlier discussion about the riverbank path used by the men who pull boats. Then comes a story: רבה בר רב נחמן had רבה בר רב הונא's trees on the riverbank cut down, and the owner's curse against whoever cut them came true. רב יהודה rules that everyone, even orphans, pays for the city wall, but רבנן do not, because their Torah protects them. For digging a well even רבנן pay, though they do not join a crowd doing the digging. רב יהודה also teaches who shares the work on a river and on rainwater drainage, and a ברייתא about gardens and courtyards supports him. שמואל and רב discuss people who grab the riverbank strip or land between brothers and partners. From there the גמרא reaches דינא דבר מצרא, the neighbor's right to buy the field next to his, learned from 'do what is right and good'. It ends with how that right works: when a קנין is needed, how prices are settled, and selling a plot in the middle of one's own land.

Opening lines

וְאִי לָא – לָא מִיסְתַּגֵּי לְהוּ.

And if not, they would not be able to walk.

רַבָּה בַּר רַב נַחְמָן הֲוָה קָא אָזֵיל בְּאַרְבָּא,

Rabba bar Rav Naḥman was traveling on a boat,

חֲזָא הָהוּא אִבָּא

he saw a certain forest

דְּקָאֵי אַגּוּדָּא דְנַהְרָא.

that was standing on the bank of the river.

The steps (25)

  1. ConclusionClosing the reason about the boat-pullers' path
  2. Statementרבה בר רב נחמן sees trees blocking the riverbank
  3. StatementHe quotes a פסוק and orders the trees cut down
  4. Statementרבה בר רב הונא curses whoever cut his trees
  5. ConclusionThe curse comes true
  6. StatementEveryone pays for the city wall, except רבנן
  7. QuestionWhy are רבנן exempt?
  8. ResponseTorah scholars do not need the wall's protection
  9. StatementFor digging a well, even רבנן pay
  10. StatementTorah scholars do not join a crowd doing the digging
  11. StatementWho helps dig a river and who helps with rainwater
  12. ProofA ברייתא about gardens and courtyards supports רב יהודה
  13. StatementOne who takes over the riverbank strip is brazen but not removed
  14. StatementNowadays the taker is removed because of the Persian deeds
  15. StatementBuying land between brothers or partners is brazen, but the buyer is not removed
  16. Statementרב נחמן says the buyer is removed, except when the claim is only the neighbor's right
  17. Statementנהרדעי remove the buyer even because of the neighbor's right
  18. QuestionIf the neighbor said 'go buy it,' is a formal קנין needed?
  19. Responseרבינא says no קנין is needed, נהרדעי say it is
  20. ConclusionThe הלכה: a קנין is needed
  21. StatementWithout a קנין, rises and drops in value belong to the neighbor
  22. StatementThe buyer got a bargain: how much does the neighbor pay?
  23. StatementThe buyer overpaid: an early assumption
  24. RejectionNo price fraud for land, so the buyer's price stands
  25. StatementSelling a plot in the middle of one's own property