Bava Metzia 31a

בבא מציעא ל״א ע״א

Learn Bava Metzia 31a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Metzia 31a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Defining a lost item, protecting land, and what the Torah's doubled verbs teach about returning, sending away, rebuking, unloading and loading

Overview

The amud opens with the end of a ברייתא about which found items count as lost. It ends with a rule that one must block floodwater heading for someone's field. רבא learns from 'all lost items' that protecting land is part of השבת אבידה. He rejects רב חנניא's proof from the floodwater case, because it may be about sheaves that still need the ground. The גמרא then finds a contradiction in the משנה about animals running or grazing on the road and in vineyards. אביי's answer is rejected, and רבא resolves it: for running, it depends which way the animal faces, and for grazing, the difference is loss of the animal versus damage to the land. Next, רבא explains doubled verbs like השב תשיבם, שלח תשלח and הוכח תוכיח: the first word means 'even a hundred times' and the second widens the מצוה. The amud closes by asking why the Torah needed separate verses for unloading, loading and returning a lost item, and that answer continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (40)

1. StatementEnd of the list: which found items count as lost
2. StatementWater about to flood a field
3. Statementרבא: protecting land is part of returning lost items
4. Proofרב חנניא brings support from the flooding case
5. Rejectionרבא rejects the proof: the case is about sheaves
6. ChallengeIf it's about sheaves, why say it?
7. ResolutionThe sheaves still need the ground
8. ChallengeThe משנה's first clause implies running or vineyard grazing is lost
9. ChallengeThe last clause implies the opposite
10. Resolutionאביי: each clause fills in the other
11. Rejectionרבא: then the משנה should have picked the stronger examples
12. ResolutionRunning: it depends which way the animal faces
13. ResolutionGrazing: loss of the animal versus damage to the land
14. ResolutionTwo meanings of 'lost' explain both clauses
15. ChallengeWhy not count grazing as lost because of the land?
16. ResolutionThe vineyard belongs to a גוי
17. ChallengeBut the גוי might kill the animal
18. ResolutionIn this place they warn before killing
19. ChallengeMaybe the warning was already given
20. ResolutionIgnoring a warning means losing it on purpose
21. StatementQuoting the next line of the משנה
22. ChallengeMaybe the double wording means only twice
23. Resolutionרבא: Return Even a Hundred Times, and to the Garden or Ruin Too
24. ChallengeWhat Kind of Garden or Ruin Is Meant?
25. ResolutionA Protected Place, and the Owner Does Not Need to Know
26. ProofThis Fits the View of רבי אלעזר
27. ChallengeSame Question on Sending Away the Mother Bird
28. ResolutionSend Away Even a Hundred Times, Even for a מצוה
29. ChallengeDoes הוכח תוכיח mean only once and twice?
30. ResolutionRebuke even a hundred times, and a student rebukes his teacher too
31. StatementUnloading a fallen animal even when the owner is not there
32. StatementLoading an animal even when the owner is not there
33. ChallengeWhy teach the owner-absent rule for both unloading and loading?
34. ResolutionUnloading alone would not teach loading
35. ResolutionLoading alone would not teach unloading
36. ChallengeHow does this work for רבי שמעון?
37. ResolutionFor רבי שמעון the verses are not clearly marked
38. ChallengeWhy write both the animal מצוות and returning a lost item?
39. ResolutionThe animal מצוות would not teach returning a lost item
40. ResolutionStarting the other side: a lost item has no owner with it