Gemara Clarity

Bava Metzia 49a

בבא מציעא מ״ט ע״א

Learn Bava Metzia 49a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Metzia 49a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Collateral and שמיטה, down payments, and whether backing out of a spoken promise counts as מחוסרי אמנה (breaking faith)

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a discussion of a ברייתא about a loan backed by a משכון (collateral) worth only half the loan. In it, רבן שמעון בן גמליאל and רבי יהודה הנשיא argue about whether שמיטה cancels such a loan. The גמרא first tries to tie their argument to the dispute over whether a ערבון (down payment) acquires כנגד כולו (the whole deal) or כנגדו (only its own value). It then pushes the link away by saying that, for רבי יהודה הנשיא, the collateral may be only a reminder. Next comes the story of רב כהנא, who was paid in advance for flax. רב ruled that he must deliver only what the money covered, because backing out of mere words is not מחוסרי אמנה (breaking faith). The גמרא presents this as a dispute: רב says spoken promises carry no such problem, and רבי יוחנן says they do. Challenges follow from 'הין צדק', from the curse of 'מי שפרע', and from the story of רבי יוחנן בן מתיא and the hired workers. Then רבי יוחנן's own statements about promised gifts and about a לוי's מעשר are examined. The result is that a small gift, which people rely on, may not be taken back. The amud ends with רבא's ruling on sesame sellers who backed out of a deal, and with the start of a story about an especially honest rabbi, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אֶלָּא מַשְׁכּוֹן דְּנָקֵיט לְמָה לֵיהּ?

But the collateral that he holds, why does he need it?

אֶלָּא לָאו, שְׁמַע מִינֵּיהּ:

Rather, do we not conclude from it:

מַאי ״אֵינוֹ מְשַׁמֵּט״

What is the meaning of 'it does not cancel'

דְּקָאָמַר רַבָּן שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל –

that Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says?

The steps (31)

  1. ChallengeThen why would the lender bother holding collateral?
  2. ProofA new reading: the dispute is about the whole loan or only half
  3. ProofLinking the collateral dispute to the down payment dispute
  4. RejectionNo: maybe the dispute is about the covered half
  5. ChallengeThe same question returns: why hold collateral?
  6. ResolutionThe collateral is just a reminder
  7. Questionרב כהנא's flax deal goes up in price
  8. Responseרב: deliver for the money received; the rest was only words
  9. Statementרב and רבי יוחנן argue about verbal promises
  10. ChallengeChallenge from 'a just hin'
  11. Resolutionאביי: do not say one thing and mean another
  12. ChallengeChallenge from the curse on one who does not keep his word
  13. ResolutionIt is a dispute between תנאים
  14. ProofThe father changes the deal before work begins
  15. ChallengeHow could the father tell his son to change the deal?
  16. ResolutionThe workers never relied on the son
  17. ChallengeThen why not change the deal even after work began?
  18. ResolutionOnce work starts, the workers do rely on him
  19. ChallengeDid רבי יוחנן really say that?
  20. Question'Can' must mean 'is allowed'
  21. ResolutionA small gift is different
  22. ProofProof from the לוי and the מעשר
  23. RejectionMaybe the לוי already took the produce
  24. ChallengeThe end of the ruling doesn't fit that reading
  25. ConclusionSo the לוי never took it: the proof stands
  26. StatementThe sesame sellers who backed out
  27. Statementרבא: the sellers aren't even unpaid watchmen
  28. ChallengeBut what about the curse of 'מי שפרע'?
  29. Resolutionרבא agrees: they must accept the curse
  30. StatementA rabbi who never changed his word
  31. StatementA man comes asking to buy sesame