Gemara Clarity

Bava Metzia 60b

בבא מציעא ס׳ ע״ב

Learn Bava Metzia 60b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Misleading buyers by dressing up goods (end of פרק הזהב), and the start of the laws of interest: נשך and תרבית

Overview

This amud first finishes the laws of misleading a buyer. The חכמים who allow sifting beans are identified as רבי אחא, who permits a change the buyer can plainly see. A ברייתא lists forbidden tricks that make animals and meat look better than they are. Several אמוראים allowed decorating goods, and the גמרא reconciles this with the משנה: new goods may be decorated, but old goods may not. A story about an old slave who dyed his hair shows what adorning a person means. After the Hadran for פרק הזהב, a new chapter opens with a משנה defining נשך and תרבית, the two Torah words for interest. The גמרא tries to find a case of one without the other, and רבא concludes that they always come together, so every loan with interest breaks two לאוין. A ברייתא then shows from the פסוקים that both נשך and ריבית apply to money and to food.

Opening lines

מִשּׁוּם דְּקָא מַרְוַוח לְתַרְעָא:

Because he eases the market rate.

וְלֹא יָבוֹר אֶת הַגְּרִיסִין,

And he may not sift the ground beans,

דִּבְרֵי אַבָּא שָׁאוּל.

these are the words of Abba Shaul.

וַחֲכָמִים מַתִּירִין וְכוּ׳.

And the Rabbis permit it, etc.

The steps (34)

  1. ResponseWhy lowering prices is a good thing
  2. StatementThe משנה about sifting ground beans
  3. QuestionWho are these חכמים?
  4. ResponseIt is רבי אחא, who allows a change the buyer can see
  5. StatementThe משנה: no dressing up people, animals or goods
  6. StatementA ברייתא: tricks with animals and meat
  7. QuestionWhat does 'משרבטין' mean?
  8. ResponseFirst explanation: feeding bran water
  9. ResponseSecond explanation: scrubbing the hair
  10. Statementאמוראים who allowed decorating goods
  11. ChallengeBut the משנה forbids decorating
  12. ResolutionNew goods versus old goods
  13. QuestionWhat does adorning a person mean?
  14. ResponseThe old slave dyes his hair and goes to רבא
  15. Statementרב פפא בר שמואל buys the slave and discovers the trick
  16. Conclusionרב פפא applies a פסוק to himself
  17. ConclusionHadran — Closing פרק הזהב
  18. StatementNew chapter: what are נשך and תרבית?
  19. StatementDefining נשך: paying back more than you borrowed
  20. StatementDefining תרבית: setting up the wheat case
  21. StatementThe wheat debt becomes a wine debt the seller does not own
  22. StatementInference: on a Torah level, נשך and תרבית are one thing
  23. ChallengeChallenge: the פסוק seems to split them into money and food
  24. ResolutionCould you really have one without the other?
  25. QuestionA possible case of נשך without תרבית
  26. RejectionThe case falls apart
  27. QuestionA possible case of תרבית without נשך
  28. RejectionThe Case of Coins Rising in Value Fails Too
  29. Conclusionרבא: The Two Always Go Together, So There Are Two Prohibitions
  30. Statementברייתא: The Basic Reading of the Verse
  31. QuestionWhere Do We Learn נשך With Food?
  32. ResponseThe Verse Says 'נשך אכל'
  33. QuestionWhere Do We Learn ריבית With Money?
  34. ResponseThe Verse Says 'נשך כסף'