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Bava Metzia 91a

בבא מציעא צ״א ע״א

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Topic

מלקות for a לאו with no action, lashes plus payment for muzzling an animal, רב פפא's two rulings (milk dough and mixed species in a pen), and helping animals mate.

Overview

The amud opens at the end of רבי יוחנן's proof from the משנה in תמורה, which gives forty lashes for swapping a קרבן even though the swap is done only by speech. ריש לקיש answers that this משנה follows רבי יהודה, who gives מלקות even for a לאו with no action. The גמרא challenges this because the same משנה includes a יורש, which רבי יהודה rejects. It answers that a תנא can agree with רבי יהודה on one point and disagree on another. Next, a ברייתא rules that someone who muzzles a threshing cow gets מלקות and also pays for its food, which seems to break the rule that one sin brings only one punishment. אביי, רבא and רב פפא each give a different answer. רב פפא then reports two questions he forbade: kneading dough with milk, where he was right, and putting different species in one pen, where he was not, since שמואל holds that כלאים needs a direct act. The amud ends with רב יהודה permitting someone to help same-species animals mate, because he is busy with his work, and a challenge from רב אחדבוי בר אמי that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לֹא שֶׁאָדָם רַשַּׁאי לְהָמִיר,

Not that a person is permitted to swap,

אֶלָּא שֶׁאִם הֵמִיר – מוּמָר,

rather, that if he swapped, the swap takes effect,

וְסוֹפֵג אֶת הָאַרְבָּעִים.

and he receives the forty lashes.

אֲמַר לֵיהּ: הָא מַנִּי

He said to him: whose opinion is this?

The steps (21)

  1. ProofEnd of the proof: swapping a קרבן brings forty lashes
  2. Rejectionריש לקיש: that משנה follows רבי יהודה
  3. ChallengeBut the same משנה includes an heir, which רבי יהודה rejects
  4. ResolutionThe תנא agrees with רבי יהודה on one point only
  5. StatementMuzzling a working cow: lashes and payment
  6. ChallengeBut one sin brings only one punishment
  7. Resolutionאביי: the ברייתא follows רבי מאיר
  8. Resolutionרבא: A person can owe money even when no court makes him pay
  9. Resolutionרב פפא: The food debt started before the sin
  10. Statementרב פפא introduces two questions he was asked
  11. QuestionThe first question: kneading dough with milk
  12. ResponseForbidden, and a ברייתא agrees
  13. QuestionThe second question: different species in one pen
  14. Responseרב פפא forbade it, but that was not the הלכה
  15. Proofשמואל: liability for כלאים needs a direct act
  16. ChallengeChallenge: does a ברייתא forbid even holding the animal?
  17. Resolution'Holding' is a polite word for inserting
  18. Statementרב יהודה permits helping same-species animals mate
  19. QuestionWhy is there no concern of immodesty?
  20. ResponseHe is busy with his work
  21. Challengeרב אחדבוי בר אמי begins a challenge