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Bava Metzia 78a

בבא מציעא ע״ח ע״א

Learn Bava Metzia 78a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

A seller who chases his money, the limit on charging workers who back out, and a renter who changes a donkey's route.

Overview

The גמרא first finishes an answer from the previous page. A seller who keeps chasing his money may have sold because his field was poor, not because he needed cash. It calls one case obvious: a seller who was forced into a bigger sale clearly needed money. It then asks about a seller who could have found an easier sale with effort but did not bother, and that question ends in a תיקו. Next it explains the משנה about a חמר or קדר who backs out. רב נחמן limits what the employer may charge them to the wages he owes them. רבא challenges him from a ברייתא that allows up to 40 or 50 זוז, and רב נחמן answers that the ברייתא is about a case where the worker's bundle is in the employer's hands. A new משנה then rules on a renter who changes a donkey's route between mountain and valley, and on what the owner owes when the donkey becomes ill, is seized, dies or breaks a leg. The גמרא asks why the first ruling of the משנה makes no distinctions, and it gives several answers: death from the air, from exhaustion, or from a snake bite, or that the ruling follows רבי מאיר.

Opening lines

מִפְּנֵי רָעָתָהּ.

because of its poor quality.

פְּשִׁיטָא: בָּעֵי לְזַבּוֹנֵי בִּמְאָה

It is obvious: if he wants to sell for one hundred

וְלָא אַשְׁכַּח, וְזַבֵּין בְּמָאתַיִם,

and does not find [a buyer], and sells for two hundred,

וְקָא עָיֵיל וְנָפֵיק אַזּוּזֵי – לָא קָנֵי.

and he goes in and goes out for the money, [the buyer] has not acquired.

The steps (17)

  1. ResolutionThe seller sold because his field was poor
  2. StatementThe obvious case: the seller clearly needed money
  3. QuestionThe unclear case: he could have found a buyer but didn't try
  4. ConclusionThe question stays unresolved
  5. StatementThe משנה: workers who back out
  6. QuestionHow much may he spend at their expense?
  7. Responseרב נחמן: Up to their wages
  8. Challengeרבא challenges: a ברייתא says up to 40 or 50 זוז
  9. ResolutionThe ברייתא is when the worker's bundle is in his hands
  10. StatementRenter changed the donkey's route and it died
  11. StatementSlipping versus overheating depends on which route caused it
  12. StatementWhat the owner owes when the rented donkey becomes useless
  13. QuestionWhy does only the second ruling make distinctions?
  14. ResponseSchool of רבי ינאי: the donkey died from the air
  15. Responseרבי יוסי בר חנינא: the donkey died from exhaustion
  16. Responseרבה: a snake bit the donkey
  17. ResponseThe first ruling follows רבי מאיר