Bava Metzia 40a

בבא מציעא מ׳ ע״א

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Topic

Payment for improving shared property, and how much a שומר may deduct for natural loss of stored produce, wine and oil

Overview

This amud first finishes the story of מרי בר איסק, who improved the family estate without knowing he had a younger brother. רבה supports רב חסדא's ruling that the improvements are shared. אביי objects that מרי never knew about his brother, so he could not have given up payment for his work. רבי אמי argues from a captive's relatives, who are paid like an אריס. רב חסדא answers that those relatives had בית דין's permission, and that בית דין never appoints a relative over a קטן's property, so רבי אמי agrees. A new משנה then lists how much a שומר may deduct for natural loss of stored grain, with three opinions on how the deduction grows with the size of the pile. The גמרא explains the rates, limits them to mixed produce whose real loss cannot be measured, defines a large amount as ten כורין, and discusses grain that swells in the rainy season. A second משנה gives the deductions for wine and oil, and the גמרא explains that the sixth and the fifth reflect different local jugs. The amud ends with a story about how רב יהודה sold wine, and the next amud explains it.

Opening lines

The steps (36)

1. Statementרבה agrees: the improvements go to the shared estate
2. Challengeאביי: the cases are not the same, because מרי did not know about his brother
3. Challengeרבי אמי: if a captive's relatives get paid, surely מרי should be
4. Rejectionרב חסדא: the captive's relative had permission, מרי did not
5. Rejectionרב חסדא's second point: בית דין never appoints a relative over a minor's property
6. Conclusionרבי אמי agrees: he had not been told the brother was a minor
7. StatementThe משנה's chart of how much produce shrinks in storage
8. Statementרבי יוחנן בן נורי: mice eat the same no matter the pile size
9. Statementרבי יהודה: a big pile has no deduction at all
10. ChallengeRice loses more than the משנה says
11. ResolutionThe משנה means shelled rice
12. StatementFlaxseed loses so much because it is on its stalks
13. ProofA ברייתא supports both explanations
14. StatementThe rate applies to every כור and every year
15. ChallengeThe חכמים answer רבי יוחנן בן נורי: loss is not only from mice
16. StatementThe fixed loss rates apply only when the produce was mixed
17. ChallengeEven if it was mixed, why not just measure the real loss?
18. ResolutionHe was taking from the mixed pile
19. ChallengeThen let him figure out how much he took
20. ResolutionHe doesn't know how much he took
21. QuestionHow much counts as a large amount?
22. ResponseA large amount is ten כורין
23. ProofA ברייתא says the same thing
24. StatementA ברייתא limits the loss deduction
25. ChallengeNo one uses two different measures
26. ResolutionIt means threshing season versus rainy season
27. ChallengeThen the jug should burst
28. ResolutionIt really happened: a jug burst
29. ResolutionOr: the grain presses together
30. StatementDeduction for wine: a sixth or a fifth
31. StatementDeduction for oil: three לוגין per hundred
32. StatementWhen the oil deductions do not apply
33. Statementרבי יהודה: even a buyer of refined oil accepts a sediment deduction
34. StatementNo real argument: each Sage followed his own region's jugs
35. ResolutionAnother explanation: different kinds of clay
36. StatementHow wine was sold in רב יהודה's town