Gemara Clarity

Gittin 61a

גיטין ס״א ע״א

Learn Gittin 61a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Gittin 61a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Robbery and kindness 'because of the ways of peace' (דרכי שלום), and the limits of helping someone who may be sinning

Overview

This amud finishes the list of things that are robbery only 'because of the ways of peace.' First the גמרא limits the argument about traps to hooks and simple snares. רב חסדא explains that רבי יוסי's 'full robbery' for a find of a חרש, שוטה, or קטן is rabbinic, which means the court can force it back. A ברייתא adds that olives already in a poor person's hand are fully his, and a story shows a man in הוצל teaching this to רב כהנא. The גמרא then brings rules of kindness to non-Jews: poor gifts, support, visiting the sick and burial, all for דרכי שלום. A new משנה teaches how far one may help a woman suspected about שביעית or the wife of an עם הארץ. אביי and רבא explain why the עם הארץ case is more lenient, and the גמרא defends רבא by contrasting impurity of חולין with impurity of חלה. The amud ends as the גמרא begins to bring a contradicting ברייתא, which is quoted on the next amud.

Opening lines

כּוּלֵּי עָלְמָא לָא פְּלִיגִי,

Everyone agrees (literally: all the world does not disagree),

כִּי פְּלִיגִי – בְּלֶחִי וְקוּקְרֵי.

when they disagree, it is about a fishhook and simple traps.

מְצִיאַת חֵרֵשׁ, שׁוֹטֶה וְכוּ׳

The found item of a deaf-mute, an imbecile, etc.

רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר: גָּזֵל גָּמוּר:

Rabbi Yosei says: it is full robbery.

The steps (19)

  1. ResolutionThe argument is only about hooks and simple traps
  2. StatementWhat רבי יוסי means by full robbery
  3. QuestionWhat practical difference does this make?
  4. ResponseThe court can force the item back
  5. StatementOlives already in the poor person's hand
  6. Statementרב כהנא picks up fallen dates
  7. ChallengeThe man objects: I knocked them down with my hand
  8. Conclusionרב כהנא accepts and praises רבי יאשיה's town
  9. StatementPoor non-Jews may take the poor's gifts from the field
  10. StatementSupporting, visiting and burying non-Jews together with Jews
  11. StatementLending tools to a woman suspected about שביעית
  12. StatementHelping an עם הארץ's wife until the water is added
  13. StatementHelping non-Jews during שביעית and greeting them
  14. QuestionWhat is the difference between the two cases?
  15. Responseאביי: most עמי הארץ separate מעשרות
  16. Responseרבא: the משנה means רבי מאיר's עם הארץ and rabbinic purity
  17. ChallengeThe 'once she adds water' line seems to show the first part is not about purity
  18. ResolutionBoth parts are about purity: first חולין, then חלה
  19. ChallengeSetting up a contradiction from another source