Bava Metzia 66b

בבא מציעא ס״ו ע״ב

Learn Bava Metzia 66b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

אסמכתא: when conditional promises to pay with land or goods take effect, and what follows when they don't

Overview

This amud keeps asking when an אסמכתא works. An אסמכתא is a conditional promise like 'if I don't pay, take my field,' which a person makes without really expecting to keep it. First the גמרא says the משנה's lender gets the field if the borrower said 'acquire from now.' Then רב אשי tries to read a rule of רב נחמן as 'an offer before the due date works, after it does not,' but the גמרא rejects this: even before the due date, the borrower was only buying quiet. Next comes a back-and-forth about signs that the borrower was not under pressure. The beer test and the price test are both knocked down, and the final test is whether he is attached to his land. רב פפא adds that a field can still be an אפותיקי, a set source of repayment, if the borrower said 'you will be paid only from this.' Two more cases follow: a seller's guarantee after a flood washed away his best land, and a promise to pay from wine, where רבה's rule teaches that any 'if' deal fails. Finally, רב נחמן rules that the land and its produce go back, and the גמרא explains why a loan is different from a sale when it comes to forgiving something by mistake.

Opening lines

The steps (27)

1. ResolutionAnother answer: he said 'acquire from now'
2. Statementרב נחמן's rule: an אסמכתא acquires in its time
3. Challengeרב אשי: isn't that true of everything?
4. Resolutionרב אשי's reading: before the due date versus after it
5. RejectionEven before the deadline, the lender does not acquire
6. StatementSometimes an אסמכתא works and sometimes it does not
7. ChallengeDrinking beer does not prove he was relaxed
8. ResolutionNew sign: he is fussy about the price
9. ChallengeBeing fussy about price may just protect his land values
10. ResolutionFinal sign: he is fussy about keeping his land
11. Statementרב פפא: the field still works as a designated repayment
12. ChallengeDid the borrower ever say the field was for collecting the debt?
13. ChallengeEven saying 'for collection' would still be an אסמכתא
14. QuestionSo what kind of designated repayment did רב פפא mean?
15. ResponseA field named as the only source of payment
16. StatementA seller refuses to guarantee from his very best land
17. StatementThe field is taken and a flood ruins the best land
18. Statementרב פפא's first thought: the buyer collects from the remaining good land
19. ChallengeThe seller can say his remaining good land is now his 'very best'
20. StatementA new case: 'If I don't pay by that day, collect from this wine'
21. Statementרב פפא's first thought: wine is like money, so the promise works
22. RejectionAny promise built on 'if' does not work
23. StatementThe land and the fruit must both go back
24. QuestionDoes רב נחמן think mistaken forgiveness is not forgiveness?
25. Challengeרב נחמן's own ruling about palm fruit says the opposite
26. ResolutionA sale is different from a loan
27. Statementרבא begins a new statement