Bava Metzia 12b

בבא מציעא י״ב ע״ב

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Topic

Who keeps a found item (a son, a Hebrew slave or maidservant, a doubtfully divorced wife), and the new משנה about found loan documents

Overview

This amud opens by finishing a point about the young son of a sharecropper: the חכמים let him acquire לקט, because this helps the poor themselves. רבי יוחנן then teaches that 'adult' and 'minor' in the משנה depend on whether the son eats at his father's table, not on his age. Next the גמרא asks why a עבד עברי keeps his own find when even a hired worker sometimes must hand his over. It gives three answers, from רבי יוחנן, רבא and רב פפא. It then asks how a שפחה עבריה could ever keep her find, which leads to a discussion of ריש לקיש's view that she goes free when her father dies. After that it explains that a doubtfully divorced wife keeps her find, because the rule giving a wife's finds to her husband exists only to prevent ill will. A new משנה follows about finding loan documents, with a dispute between רבי מאיר and the חכמים. The גמרא explains the worry that a document may carry an earlier date than the real loan. It then challenges this from a משנה that allows writing a document for a borrower alone, and רב אסי's answer continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (29)

1. StatementThe חכמים treat a minor as able to acquire
2. QuestionAsking the reason for this rule
3. ResponseThe poor themselves want this rule
4. Statementשמואל disagrees with רבי חייא בר אבא
5. Statement'Adult' and 'minor' depend on eating at the father's table
6. StatementThe משנה: a Hebrew slave's find is his own
7. ChallengeShouldn't a slave be at least like a hired worker?
8. ProofThe ברייתא about a hired worker's find
9. ResolutionFirst answer: the slave pierces pearls
10. ResolutionSecond answer: he picked it up while working
11. ResolutionThird answer: only someone hired to collect finds must hand them over
12. QuestionWhen would someone hire a worker to collect finds?
13. ResponseA lake that flooded its shore with fish
14. ChallengeHow can the Hebrew maidservant's case happen?
15. ChallengeIf she is still a minor, the find still cannot be hers
16. ProofSource: רבי שמעון בן לקיש says the father's death frees her
17. ResolutionBut רבי שמעון בן לקיש was already refuted
18. ChallengeDoes our משנה refute רבי שמעון בן לקיש too?
19. RejectionNo: the father is alive, and the find just does not go to the master
20. ChallengeWhy say a divorced wife keeps her find?
21. ResolutionThe case is a woman who is only doubtfully divorced
22. ResolutionWhy the husband still does not get her find
23. StatementNew משנה: finding loan documents
24. StatementThe Rabbis say never return the loan documents
25. ChallengeWhich case is the משנה talking about?
26. ResolutionThe borrower admits, but the document may be dated too early
27. ChallengeThen every loan document should worry us
28. ResolutionLost documents are suspicious, regular documents are not
29. ChallengeChallenge from writing a document for the borrower alone