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Bava Metzia 4a

בבא מציעא ד׳ ע״א

Learn Bava Metzia 4a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Metzia 4a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

רבי חייא's two rulings on oaths: the הצד השוה source for witnesses on part of a loan, and the debate with רב ששת over whether one who says הילך must swear.

Overview

This amud picks up in the middle of the גמרא's search for a source for רבי חייא's rule: if two witnesses prove a borrower owes part of a loan, he must swear about the rest. After a comparison to a single witness (עד אחד) fails, רב פפא suggests learning from גלגול שבועה. The גמרא then goes back and forth between a person's own admission (פיו) and עד אחד, with each one covering the other's weakness. In the end it combines them into a הצד השוה: both come through a claim and a denial, and so do witnesses. Two challenges to this, that he is a proven denier and that witnesses are subject to הזמה, are both answered. Next the גמרא says our משנה of two people holding a garment does not really match the witnesses case. Instead it supports a different ruling of רבי חייא: one who admits part of a claim and hands it over (הילך) must still swear. רב ששת disagrees and holds that הילך is exempt, calling the משנה's oath only rabbinic. רבי חייא answers that the חכמים model their oaths on Torah oaths. The amud ends as the גמרא begins quoting a ברייתא against רבי חייא, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

תֹּאמַר בְּעֵדִים,

Would you say the same about witnesses,

שֶׁעַל מַה שֶּׁכָּפַר הוּא נִשְׁבָּע.

where he swears about what he denied?

אֶלָּא אָמַר רַב פָּפָּא:

Rather, Rav Pappa said:

אָתֵי מִגִּלְגּוּל שְׁבוּעָה דְּעֵד אֶחָד.

It is derived from the rolling-over of an oath caused by one witness.

The steps (22)

  1. RejectionFinishing the rejection: witnesses are different from one witness
  2. Resolutionרב פפא: the source is the rolling-over oath from one witness
  3. RejectionRejection: an oath pulling an oath is different from witnesses
  4. ResolutionDefense: a person's own admission proves it
  5. RejectionAdmission is special because it cannot be contradicted
  6. ResolutionOne witness proves that even contradictable testimony brings an oath
  7. RejectionOne witness makes him swear on the very thing the witness spoke about
  8. ResolutionAdmission proves an oath can be on the denied part
  9. ProofCombining both sources with a common feature
  10. ChallengeWith witnesses he is shown to be a denier
  11. ResolutionSomeone who denies a loan is not treated as a liar
  12. ChallengeA new challenge to the common feature: witnesses can be punished as false witnesses
  13. Resolutionרבי חייא does not use הזמה to break the comparison
  14. ChallengeOur משנה is not really like רבי חייא's case
  15. ResolutionThe משנה supports a different ruling of רבי חייא: the הילך case
  16. StatementWhy Handing Over the Money Still Requires an Oath
  17. ProofOur משנה of the Garment Supports the Ruling on הילך
  18. Statementרב ששת Disagrees: הילך Is Exempt
  19. ChallengeThe משנה seems to contradict רב ששת
  20. Resolutionרב ששת: the משנה's oath is a rabbinic enactment
  21. Rejectionרבי חייא's side: rabbinic oaths are modeled on Torah oaths
  22. ChallengeAn objection is introduced from a ברייתא