Gittin 47a

גיטין מ״ז ע״א

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Topic

Redeeming a captive who is a מומר, the ריש לקיש story, and the משנה about selling a field to a non-Jew, with the argument between רבה and רבי אלעזר over a non-Jew's ownership and מעשר

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a story. A man who sold himself to the לודאי begs רבי אמי to redeem him. רבי אמי argues with a קל וחומר from a משנה that he should be redeemed because his life is in danger. The רבנן reply that he is a מומר who chooses forbidden food even when kosher food is in front of him, so רבי אמי sends him away. Next the גמרא tells how ריש לקיש sold himself to the לודאי, tricked them on his last day, and killed them all. Afterward he lived so simply that he regretted even the little saffron he left behind. A new משנה then rules that someone who sells his field to a non-Jew must buy its fruit and bring ביכורים, for תיקון העולם. In the גמרא, רבה and רבי אלעזר argue about whether a non-Jew's purchase in ארץ ישראל frees the produce from מעשר and whether it lets him dig in the ground. The disagreement turns on how each reads the word "דגנך". One proof for רבה, from the משנה in פאה, is pushed away, and one proof for רבי אלעזר, from a ברייתא, is pushed away by placing it in סוריא. A third proof, about a field owned by a Jew and a non-Jew in partnership, begins and continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (21)

1. QuestionThe captive begs to be redeemed
2. Proofרבי אמי proves he should be redeemed from a משנה
3. ChallengeThe רבנן object: he is a מומר
4. ResolutionMaybe he only eats out of craving
5. ChallengeHe chooses forbidden food even when kosher food is there
6. Conclusionרבי אמי sends the man away
7. Statementריש לקיש sells himself to the gladiators
8. Statementריש לקיש outsmarts his captors on the last day
9. Conclusionריש לקיש returns home and lives with full trust
10. Statementמשנה: selling a field to a non-Jew and ביכורים
11. Statementרבה: what a non-Jew owns in the Land of Israel
12. Statementרבי אלעזר holds the exact opposite of רבה
13. QuestionWhat is the root of their disagreement?
14. Proofרבה brings a proof from a משנה about a non-Jew's לקט, שכחה and פאה
15. RejectionThe משנה cannot mean a Jew's field
16. ProofSo the משנה must mean a non-Jew's field, collected by a Jew
17. ProofThe inference: only making it ownerless frees it
18. RejectionIt could be a Jew's field after all
19. ProofA field that reached a third in a Jew's hands
20. RejectionThe case is in סוריא, which is different
21. ProofA new proof begins: a Jew and a non-Jew who bought a field together