Gittin 50b

גיטין נ׳ ע״ב

Learn Gittin 50b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Gittin 50b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Whether the protection of sold property extends to gifts, and why sold property is not taken to pay for lost produce.

Overview

This amud opens by finishing an earlier point: the special protections for יתומים cover adult orphans too, not only young ones. Then רב אחדבוי בר אמי asks whether the משנה's rule (a creditor may not take sold property while the debtor still has free property) also protects someone who received the land as a מתנה. מר קשישא tries to prove that it does, from a ברייתא about a שכיב מרע who gave gifts in order: the creditor collects from the last gift, even if it is the worst land. The גמרא pushes this proof away in three ways. The ברייתא may be about paying creditors, not gifts. Or 'collects from the last' may only mean the last one ends up losing. Or all the fields may have been the same quality. Next the גמרא asks why sold property is not taken to pay for lost produce. עולא and רבי יוחנן say it is because the produce is not written, and they defend this reason against a challenge from the support of a wife and daughters. רבי חנינא gives a different reason: the amount of produce is not fixed. The amud ends as the גמרא begins to ask whether רבי חנינא needs both 'fixed' and 'written'; that question continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (25)

1. StatementThe orphans' protections apply to adult orphans too
2. StatementThe משנה's rule: don't take sold property while free property remains
3. QuestionWhat about property that was given as a gift?
4. QuestionThe two sides of the gift question
5. ProofA proof from a dying man's gifts
6. ProofThe second half of the ברייתא: gifts listed in order
7. ProofThe proof: the creditor must take the worse land from the last gift
8. RejectionPushing back: the case is about creditors, not gifts
9. ChallengeChallenge: the word ״תְּנוּ״ sounds like a gift
10. ResolutionAnswer: ״תְּנוּ״ means give it for my debt
11. ChallengeChallenge: just check whose loan document is earlier
12. ResolutionAnswer: there are no loan documents
13. ChallengeChallenge: the ברייתא mentions a document
14. ResolutionAnswer: it means the dying man's instruction document
15. RejectionEven with gifts, only the last recipient truly loses
16. RejectionAll the fields were of equal quality
17. QuestionWhy no collection for eaten produce?
18. ResponseBecause the produce is not written
19. ChallengeSupport for wife and daughters counts as written, yet is not collected
20. ResolutionSupport was set up to count as written only for property still owned
21. Statementרבי יוחנן gives the same 'not written' reason
22. Challengeרבי זירא raises the support challenge against רבי אסי
23. Resolutionרבי אסי gives the same answer: support was limited from the start
24. Statementרבי חנינא: produce is not a fixed amount
25. QuestionDoes רבי חנינא need both fixed and written?