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Bava Metzia 109a

בבא מציעא ק״ט ע״א

Learn Bava Metzia 109a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

A sharecropper (מְקַבֵּל) who takes a field for a few years versus seven years: planting פשתן, cutting קורות שקמה, and whether he is paid for the שבח (growth) of the sycamore when he leaves.

Overview

The משנה teaches that someone who takes a field for only a few years may not plant flax, which weakens the soil, and may not cut the sycamore branches used for beams. With a seven-year deal he may do both. אביי says the short-term worker is still paid for the sycamore's growth (שבח), and רבא says he is not. The גמרא challenges רבא from ברייתות about a court appraisal. In the end it shows that only a buyer at the יובל keeps the growth, because he was a true owner and a special פסוק gives it to him. Then come real cases: רב פפא is paid for palm trees that sprouted in his hay field only as wood, and רב ביבי gets nothing because he lost nothing. רב יוסף tries to remove his dead planter's five heirs, but the ruling that heirs leave with no payment is rejected. A planter who promised to leave if he caused a loss leads to a three-way argument, and רבא calls the promise an אסמכתא that is not binding. The amud ends with רבא approving רבינא's removal of his planter without warning, and it begins quoting רבא's rule about such workers, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מַתְנִי׳ הַמְקַבֵּל שָׂדֶה מֵחֲבֵירוֹ

MISHNA: One who receives a field from his fellow to work it

לְשָׁנִים מוּעָטוֹת –

for a few years,

לֹא יִזְרָעֶנָּה פִּשְׁתָּן,

may not plant it with flax,

וְאֵין לוֹ בְּקוֹרוֹת שִׁקְמָה.

and he has no rights to the sycamore beams.

The steps (39)

  1. StatementShort-term sharecropper: no flax, no sycamore beams
  2. StatementSeven-year sharecropper: flax in year one, and he may take the beams
  3. Statementאביי: no beams, but he is paid for the tree's growth
  4. Statementרבא: he is not even paid for the growth
  5. ChallengeChallenge to רבא: the court appraises what he is owed
  6. ResolutionAnswer: the appraisal is for vegetables and beets
  7. ChallengeChallenge: why not just pull up the vegetables?
  8. ResolutionAnswer: market day has not come yet
  9. ChallengeA new ברייתא is brought against רבא
  10. ChallengeThe seventh year does not take land away
  11. ResolutionRead it as the יובל instead
  12. ChallengeThe יובל does not end a sharecropping deal
  13. ResolutionRead it as a buyer, not a sharecropper
  14. ChallengeThe appraisal must be for the sycamore's growth
  15. Resolutionאביי explains: a special פסוק gives the buyer the growth
  16. ChallengeWhy not learn a general rule from it?
  17. ResolutionA buyer was a true owner; a sharecropper was not
  18. Statementרב פפא's hay field grows palm trees
  19. ChallengeWould you also claim growth of an existing palm tree?
  20. ResolutionIt depends on what the sharecropper expected
  21. QuestionDoes רב פפא follow אביי?
  22. RejectionIt even fits רבא, because here there was a loss
  23. ChallengeYour loss is only a handful of hay
  24. ResolutionI grew expensive saffron there
  25. RejectionYou showed you planned to leave, so you get only wood value
  26. Statementרב ביבי's field grows trees
  27. RejectionNo loss, so no payment
  28. Statementרב יוסף and the five sons-in-law of his planter
  29. ProofThe source for רב יוסף's threat
  30. RejectionThat ruling is not the הלכה
  31. StatementA planter who promised to leave if he caused a loss
  32. Statementרב כהנא: he leaves, but takes his payment
  33. Statementרבא: the promise is an אסמכתא
  34. ChallengeChallenge to רבא from the sharecropper's promise in the משנה
  35. ResolutionPaying for real damage versus losing everything
  36. Statementרבינא removes his planter, and רבא approves
  37. ChallengeThe planter protests that he was never warned
  38. Resolutionרבא: no warning is needed
  39. Statementרבא's general rule about certain workers begins