Gemara Clarity

Sanhedrin 77a

סנהדרין ע״ז ע״א

Learn Sanhedrin 77a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Sanhedrin 77a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Liability of a מצמצם (one who confines): not for נזקין, and when tying someone up or trapping him counts as killing

Overview

The amud opens at the end of a קל וחומר. If a רוצח who confines a person (מצמצם) is liable, then someone who confines another person's animal so that it dies should surely pay for נזקין. רב אחא בר רב disagrees and exempts. His grandson רב משרשיא explains that the words 'רוצח הוא' limit the liability of a מצמצם to murder. Next, רבא gives rulings about tying someone up. If the victim starves, the binder is exempt. If he is tied in sun or cold that is already there, the binder is liable, but if it only comes later, he is exempt. Tying him before a lion makes the binder exempt, and before mosquitoes makes him liable. רב אשי says even mosquitoes leave the binder exempt, because new ones keep coming. Then רבא and רבי זירא argue about someone who traps a person under a vat or breaks open the roof above him, but we are not told who says חייב and who says פטור. The גמרא tries to prove each side from earlier rulings, including רבי זירא's case of the marble house and the lamp, and the discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

נְזָקִין, שֶׁעָשָׂה בָּהֶן

damages, where [the Torah] made with regard to them

שׁוֹגֵג כְּמֵזִיד

the unintentional like the intentional

וְאוֹנֶס כְּרָצוֹן –

and the forced like the willing

אֵינוֹ דִּין שֶׁחִיֵּיב בָּהֶן אֶת הַמְצַמְצֵם?

is it not logical that [the Torah] made the one who confines liable for them?

The steps (12)

  1. ProofFinishing the argument: one who confines an animal should pay for damages
  2. Statementרב אחא בר רב exempts the one who confines an animal
  3. Questionרב משרשיא asks for his grandfather's reason
  4. ResponseThe verse 'he is a murderer' limits this liability to murder
  5. StatementTying someone up who then starves is exempt
  6. StatementSun or cold already there makes him liable; sun or cold coming later makes him exempt
  7. StatementTied before a lion is exempt; before mosquitoes is liable
  8. Statementרב אשי: even with mosquitoes he is exempt, because they keep changing
  9. Statementרבא and רבי זירא argue about the vat and the broken roof
  10. ProofSuggestion that רבא is the one who exempts
  11. RejectionOn the contrary: רבי זירא seems to be the one who exempts
  12. RejectionIn the marble house, the suffocation does not start without a lamp