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Bava Metzia 88b

בבא מציעא פ״ח ע״ב

Learn Bava Metzia 88b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

A buyer's tithing obligation, when produce becomes obligated in מעשרות, and the sources for a worker and an ox eating attached and detached produce

Overview

The amud opens by finishing the reading of the people of בית הינו, who said a seller or buyer does not have to tithe. The גמרא concludes that a buyer's obligation is only מדרבנן, with the פסוק as an אסמכתא. So the word כנפשך gets a new job: an employer who stops a worker from eating is not liable for muzzling, just like an owner who does not eat his own crop. Next, מר זוטרא challenges the rule that produce becomes obligated in tithes only in the house. He brings a משנה about cucumbers and gourds and a ברייתא about 'bringing in,' and the גמרא answers both. Then the גמרא goes back to a worker's right to eat. It asks for the source that a person may eat detached produce and that an ox may eat attached produce. Each time a קל וחומר is tried and rejected. The sources become the doubled words קמה and רעך, and רבי אמי offers a different reading from the vineyard פסוק. The amud ends with רבינא saying neither case needs its own פסוק, because both come from 'לא תחסם שור בדישו.' The explanation of how that works comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

״עַשֵּׂר תְּעַשֵּׂר וְאָכַלְתָּ״ –

'You shall surely tithe… and you shall eat':

וְלֹא מוֹכֵר.

but not one who sells.

״תְּבוּאַת זַרְעֶךָ״ –

'The produce of your seed':

וְלֹא לוֹקֵחַ.

but not one who buys.

The steps (27)

  1. ProofThe verses בית הינו relied on
  2. ConclusionA buyer's tithing obligation is rabbinic
  3. QuestionSo what does כנפשך teach?
  4. Responseכנפשך: no muzzling penalty for a worker
  5. Challengeמר זוטרא's challenge from cucumbers and gourds
  6. ResolutionThe משנה means: in the house
  7. ChallengeThe wording should then be 'until'
  8. ResolutionWhy the משנה says 'from when' and not 'until'
  9. Challengeמר זוטרא's ברייתא: produce is obligated once it is brought in
  10. Resolution'Bringing in' means bringing into the house
  11. Resolutionרבי ינאי's house rule applies only to olives and grapes
  12. QuestionSource for a person eating from detached produce
  13. ResponseFirst attempt: a קל וחומר from an ox
  14. RejectionThe ox has a special stringency: the ban on muzzling
  15. ChallengeWhy not forbid muzzling a person too?
  16. Resolutionכנפשך: a worker is treated like the owner himself
  17. QuestionSo where do we learn detached produce for a person?
  18. ResponseThe doubled word קמה teaches detached produce
  19. Responseרבי אמי: A person eating detached produce needs no extra verse
  20. QuestionAsking the source for an ox eating attached produce
  21. ResponseA קל וחומר from a person to an ox
  22. RejectionRejected: we must keep a person alive, but not an ox
  23. ChallengeChallenge: an ox should also be included in the command to sustain
  24. ResolutionThe פסוק limits sustaining to 'your brother'
  25. QuestionSo what is the source for an ox and attached produce?
  26. ResponseThe double word רעך teaches about an ox
  27. Statementרבינא: Two cases need no separate verses