Shevuos 42b

שבועות מ״ב ע״ב

Shevuot 42b

Learn Shevuos 42b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

רבה's reason for the מודה במקצת oath, שמואל's reading of oaths to a minor and to הקדש, and the new משנה about items excluded from oaths, double payment and the watchman laws.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing the discussion of a ברייתא about a son who claims his late father's loan. The גמרא explains that רבי אליעזר בן יעקב and the רבנן argue about רבה's idea: a debtor is not brazen enough to deny a debt to his creditor's face, so the Torah makes a מודה במקצת swear. The two sides disagree about whether that also holds in front of the creditor's son. The גמרא then defends reading the משנה like רבי אליעזר בן יעקב by telling apart a certain claim from an uncertain one. שמואל offers a different reading: the oath 'to a minor' or 'to הקדש' is a creditor's oath, taken in order to collect from a minor's property or from consecrated property. The גמרא shows why each of these teachings is needed, and it limits רב הונא's rule about a dying man to that case. A new משנה then lists slaves, documents, land and הקדש as items that are left out of oaths, double payment and the watchman laws. The same משנה also brings the opinions of רבי שמעון and רבי מאיר, and a rule that an oath requires a clear amount. The גמרא derives the double-payment exclusions from a כלל ופרט וכלל and explains why there is no four-or-five payment. It begins to bring a ברייתא for the watchman rule, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (25)

1. ChallengeEvery partial admission is a claim of others plus his own admission
2. ResolutionThe argument is about רבה's reason for the partial-admission oath
3. StatementWhy the debtor holds back, and why the Torah imposes an oath
4. ConclusionApplying רבה's principle to the creditor's son
5. ChallengeCan the משנה really follow רבי אליעזר בן יעקב?
6. ResolutionThe difference is whether the claimant says 'I am certain'
7. Statementשמואל: the oath is taken in order to collect from a minor or from הקדש
8. ChallengeWhy teach the oath to collect from orphans twice?
9. ResolutionThe repetition teaches that the rule covers adult and minor orphans
10. ChallengeWhy teach the oath for collecting from הקדש?
11. ResolutionWe might have thought nobody plots against הקדש
12. Challengeרב הונא says nobody plots against הקדש
13. ResolutionA dying man gains nothing, but a healthy man might
14. Statementמשנה: four kinds of property left out of oaths and fines
15. Statementרבי שמעון: Consecrated Items the Owner Must Replace Get an Oath
16. Statementרבי מאיר and the Sages Argue About Vines Loaded With Grapes
17. StatementAn Oath Applies Only to a Claim With a Clear Amount
18. QuestionWhere Do We Learn That These Items Have No Double Payment?
19. ResponseThe ברייתא Reads the Verse as General, Detail, General
20. ResponseOnly items like the listed details are included
21. ConclusionLand, slaves, documents and הקדש are excluded
22. QuestionWhy no four-or-five payment for הקדש?
23. ResponseThe תורה said four or five, not three or four
24. QuestionSource that a שומר חנם does not swear
25. ResponseIntroducing a ברייתא as the source