Bava Metzia 39a

בבא מציעא ל״ט ע״א

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Topic

Who may work and manage someone else's abandoned, captive's, or minor's property, and how they are paid

Overview

The גמרא first explains the difference between נטושים (land the owners had to leave) and רטושים (land the owners left by choice), with a פסוק for each. It then asks which kind of property the teaching 'we pay him like an אריס' refers to. It settles on נטושים according to רבן שמעון בן גמליאל: the worker is not removed, as with שבויין, but he gets only an אריס's pay. The גמרא explains this payment with the case of a husband of a קטנה. He cannot rely on keeping the property, so the רבנן paid him to keep him from ruining it. Next, the word וכולן is shown to include רב נחמן's runaway, who is treated like a captive when he flees a murder charge, but not when he flees a tax. שמואל adds that a steward harvests a captive's ripe crops before a relative takes over, since permanent stewards are not appointed for adults. Finally, רב הונא limits who may manage a captive's or a minor's property, and רבא begins to learn from this that no one can make a חזקה on a minor's property.

Opening lines

The steps (21)

1. ResponseWhat 'נטושים' and 'רטושים' mean
2. StatementA teaching: everyone who works such a field is paid like a sharecropper
3. QuestionWhich property does this teaching mean?
4. ChallengeIt can't mean captives' property
5. ChallengeIt can't mean forsaken property either
6. ResponseSo it must mean abandoned property
7. ChallengeWhose opinion fits abandoned property?
8. ResolutionLike captives' property in one way, but not in another
9. ChallengeWhy is this different from a husband who spends on his wife's property?
10. ResolutionThe worker is like a husband of a minor wife
11. QuestionWhat does the word 'all of them' come to include?
12. ResponseThe answer begins: שמואל's rule about a captive's property
13. Statementרב נחמן: one who runs away is like a captive
14. QuestionRuns away because of what?
15. ResponseHe runs away to escape a murder charge
16. Statementשמואל: A steward harvests the captive's ripe crops first
17. ChallengeWhy not keep the steward permanently?
18. ResolutionStewards are not appointed for adults
19. Statementרב הונא's three limits on who may manage property
20. ResponseThe reasons behind each of רב הונא's rules
21. Statementרבא: No one gains ownership of a minor's property by using it