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Bava Metzia 82b

בבא מציעא פ״ב ע״ב

Learn Bava Metzia 82b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

How responsible a lender is for collateral, renting out a poor person's collateral, and the case of a watchman who breaks a barrel while carrying it

Overview

The amud opens by finishing the מחלוקת between רבי אליעזר and רבי עקיבא about a lender who loses collateral. It pins their argument to a lender who wants to use the collateral, and asks whether his lending still counts as a מצוה. Next the גמרא brings אבא שאול's rule that a lender may rent out a poor person's collateral to pay down the debt. שמואל rules like אבא שאול, but only for sturdy tools that earn high rent and wear down little. A new משנה then teaches that a watchman who broke a barrel while carrying it swears and goes free. רבי אליעזר agrees with this ruling but says he is puzzled by it. A ברייתא shows that this view belongs to רבי מאיר, while רבי יהודה says a paid watchman must pay. The גמרא asks how רבי מאיר can say this, since elsewhere he treats one who stumbles as careless. רבי אלעזר answers that the two sources hold different traditions of רבי מאיר's view. Finally the גמרא explains רבי אליעזר's puzzle. A paid watchman pays even without carelessness, and an unpaid one can only honestly swear if the barrel broke on a slope.

Opening lines

בְּמִלְוֶה צָרִיךְ לְמַשְׁכּוֹן קָמִיפַּלְגִי.

They disagree about a lender who needs the collateral.

מָר סָבַר: מִצְוָה קָא עָבֵיד שֶׁהִלְוָהוּ,

One Sage holds: he is doing a מצוה by lending to him,

וְהָוֵי שׁוֹמֵר שָׂכָר.

and so he is a paid watchman.

וּמָר סָבַר: לָאו מִצְוָה קָא עָבֵיד,

And one Sage holds: he is not doing a מצוה,

The steps (15)

  1. ResolutionThe argument is about a lender who wants to use the collateral
  2. Statementאבא שאול: you may rent out a poor person's collateral
  3. Statementשמואל rules like אבא שאול
  4. StatementOnly for tools that earn a lot and wear down little
  5. StatementNew משנה: a watchman who breaks a barrel while carrying it
  6. Statementרבי אליעזר agrees but wonders how this can be
  7. StatementA ברייתא shows the משנה's first opinion is רבי מאיר
  8. Statementרבי יהודה: the paid watchman pays
  9. Statementרבי אליעזר's puzzle, repeated in the ברייתא
  10. ChallengeDoes רבי מאיר really think stumbling is not carelessness?
  11. Resolutionרבי אלעזר: the two ברייתות hold different traditions of רבי מאיר
  12. Resolutionרבי יהודה gives each watchman his own law
  13. Resolutionרבי אליעזר confirms the tradition but wonders about it
  14. ChallengeWhy should a paid watchman be allowed to swear?
  15. ChallengeEven the unpaid watchman can only swear if he was on a slope