Bava Metzia 117b

בבא מציעא קי״ז ע״ב

Learn Bava Metzia 117b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Benefiting from another's property, rebuilding a collapsed two-story house, and the next משנה about collapsed structures

Overview

The גמרא opens with רבי יוחנן's claim that in three משניות, רבי יהודה teaches that a person may not benefit from someone else's property. The three are our משנה about the upper story, the dyer who used the wrong color, and the partly paid loan document. The גמרא then pushes back on all three proofs. The rent may be because living in the house blackens the walls. The dyer may lose out because he broke the deal. The loan case may be an אסמכתא, which רבי יהודה holds has no effect. Next, עולא teaches that when the house is rebuilt, the lower owner may only make his walls stronger, and the upper owner may only make his story lighter. If neither owner can afford to rebuild, one ברייתא gives the upper owner nothing in the land, while רבי נתן gives him a third and אחרים a quarter. רבה rules like רבי נתן. A new משנה then brings related cases: a garden on top of a collapsed olive press, a wall or tree that falls into the street, and a wall that falls into a neighbor's garden, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (17)

1. Statementרבי יוחנן: three places teach that you may not benefit from another's property
2. ProofSecond place: the dyer who used the wrong color
3. ProofThird place: the loan document left with a third party
4. RejectionMaybe our case is different because the walls get blackened
5. RejectionThe dyer case is about breaking the deal
6. RejectionThe partial-debt case is about an empty promise
7. StatementThe lower owner may change materials only to make the house stronger
8. StatementThe lower owner and changes to windows and height
9. StatementThe upper owner's rule is the reverse: lighter is allowed, heavier is not
10. QuestionWhat if neither owner can afford to rebuild?
11. ResponseA ברייתא: the upper owner has no share in the land
12. Statementרבי נתן gives the upper owner one third of the land
13. Statementאחרים give the upper owner one quarter
14. Conclusionרבה rules like רבי נתן and explains the one-third
15. StatementA garden on top of an olive press that caved in
16. StatementA wall or tree that falls into the public area
17. StatementA wall that fell into a neighbor's garden