Gemara Clarity

Bava Metzia 57a

בבא מציעא נ״ז ע״א

Learn Bava Metzia 57a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Metzia 57a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Whether items excluded from אונאה (land and הקדש) can have a sale cancelled, and the argument between רבי יוחנן and ריש לקיש about paying the missing value of a redeemed sacred animal

Overview

This amud first ends רבא's question about kernels planted before the עומר with תיקו: it stays unresolved. A new topic then opens. רבי אמי asks whether items that have no אונאה, like land and הקדש, can still have a sale cancelled (ביטול מקח), and he answers that they can. רבי יונה applies this ruling from רבי יוחנן to הקדש, and רבי ירמיה applies it to land. The גמרא explains the gap between these two versions using שמואל's rule that הקדש redeemed for a פרוטה is redeemed. Next comes a משנה about a blemished sacred animal. רבי יוחנן and ריש לקיש argue over whether paying its missing value is a Torah law or a rabbinic law. The גמרא tests both possible price gaps, and it resolves the problem by switching the names. It then explains the argument through שמואל in two ways. Finally, it offers another answer that keeps the original names and ties the argument to רב חסדא's reading of 'אין להם אונאה', which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מַהוּ לְמִינְקַט וּמֵיכַל מִינַּיְיהוּ:

What is the law about picking and eating from them?

כְּמַאן דְּשַׁדְיָין בְּכַדָּא דָּמֵי,

Are they like kernels thrown into a jug,

וּשְׁרִינְהוּ עוֹמֶר,

so the עומר made them permitted,

אוֹ דִלְמָא בַּטְּלִינְהוּ אַגַּב אַרְעָא?

or perhaps he made them part of the ground?

The steps (17)

  1. QuestionMay the planted kernels be picked and eaten after the עומר?
  2. ConclusionThe question stays unresolved
  3. QuestionCan a sale be cancelled for items that have no אונאה?
  4. Responseרבי אמי answers his own question: the sale can be cancelled
  5. StatementTwo students quote רבי יוחנן, each about a different item
  6. StatementHow the two versions relate, using שמואל's ruling
  7. StatementA משנה about a blemished sacred animal
  8. Statementרבי יוחנן: making up the value is only rabbinic
  9. Statementריש לקיש: making up the value is a Torah law too
  10. ChallengeIf the shortfall is exactly a sixth, ריש לקיש is hard to explain
  11. ChallengeIf the shortfall cancels the sale, רבי יוחנן is hard to explain
  12. ResolutionThe case is cancelling the sale, and the names are switched
  13. QuestionWhat is their argument based on?
  14. ResponseThey argue about whether שמואל's rule is correct
  15. ResponseSecond version: both accept שמואל, but argue about doing it from the start
  16. ResolutionAnother answer: keep the case as a one-sixth gap and keep the opinions as they were
  17. Statementרב חסדא explains what 'they have no אונאה' means