Bava Metzia 13a

בבא מציעא י״ג ע״א

Learn Bava Metzia 13a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Found loan documents: רב אסי, אביי (עדיו בחתומיו זכין לו), and how שמואל explains our משנה

Overview

The עמוד opens with the end of רב אסי's answer. A scribe may write a loan document for a borrower without the lender present only if it is a שטר הקנאה, where the borrower ties his land to the debt from the written date. The גמרא challenges him from our משנה, which refuses to return a found document with אחריות נכסים because it may be dated before the real loan. רב אסי answers that a lost document has become less trustworthy. אביי gives a different reason: עדיו בחתומיו זכין לו, meaning the witnesses' signatures acquire the lien for the lender even in an ordinary document. The גמרא limits this to documents that actually reached the recipient. It then explains that for אביי our משנה worries about repayment and a scheme (פרעון וקנוניא). For שמואל, who does not share that worry, the משנה is about a borrower who denies the debt. A document without a guarantee is still returned, because following רבי מאיר it collects nothing and is only paper to cover the lender's flask. The גמרא then asks why the paper should not go to the borrower instead, and the answer continues on the next עמוד.

Opening lines

The steps (19)

1. Resolutionרב אסי: the case is about deeds of transfer
2. ChallengeChallenge from our משנה about not returning found documents
3. ChallengeSpelling out the challenge: neither kind of document is a problem
4. Resolutionרב אסי: a lost document has lost its trustworthiness
5. Resolutionאביי: the witnesses' signatures acquire for the lender
6. ChallengeWhy אביי did not accept Rav Asi's answer
7. ChallengeChallenge to אביי from found divorce documents and other documents
8. ResolutionThe signatures acquire only once the document reaches the recipient
9. ChallengeBringing the משנה about found loan documents
10. ChallengeFits רב אסי but seems to contradict אביי
11. Resolutionאביי: the משנה worries about repayment and a scheme
12. ChallengeWhat would שמואל say about the משנה?
13. Resolutionשמואל reads the משנה as a borrower who denies the debt
14. ChallengeThen why return a document with no property guarantee?
15. Resolutionשמואל follows רבי מאיר: no guarantee means no collecting at all
16. ChallengeIf it collects nothing, why return it at all?
17. ResolutionIt is returned as plain paper to cover a flask
18. ChallengeWhy not give the paper to the borrower?
19. ResolutionThe answer begins with the borrower