Sotah 43b

סוטה מ״ג ע״ב

Learn Sotah 43b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Sotah 43b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Who goes home from the army for a house or vineyard, grafted trees, and a list of רבי אליעזר בן יעקב's rulings

Overview

The עמוד opens by finishing a back-and-forth about רבי אליעזר בן יעקב's rule that a man with a stolen house does not go home from the army. Even if the thief repented and paid, he does not go home, because the house first came to him as stolen. Next, a ברייתא explains the פסוק about planting a vineyard. Buying, inheriting, or getting a vineyard as a gift counts, and so do five fruit trees, but not fewer or non-fruit trees. רבי אליעזר בן יעקב says only real grapevines count, and layering or grafting does not. That clashes with the משנה, and the גמרא offers three answers: רב חסדא's split between forbidden and permitted grafting (with a long search for a real case), רב נחמן בר יצחק's case of a tree layered into a vegetable, and רבי יוחנן's view that the strict ruling is רבי אליעזר בן יעקב's own. Along the way רב פפא learns that partners in a vineyard do not go home. The עמוד ends with a list of רבי יוחנן's rulings in the name of רבי אליעזר בן יעקב, many about what onlookers might wrongly think, and the list continues on the next דף.

Opening lines

The steps (37)

1. ChallengeFinishing the challenge: by רבי יוסי הגלילי a thief goes home anyway
2. ResolutionAnswer: he repented and paid for the house
3. ChallengeChallenge: then he is a buyer and should go home
4. ResolutionAnswer: it started out as stolen, so he does not go home
5. StatementBuying, inheriting, or getting a vineyard as a gift also counts
6. StatementFive fruit trees of any kind also count
7. StatementFour fruit trees or non-fruit trees do not count
8. Statementרבי אליעזר בן יעקב: only a real vineyard, and no layering or grafting
9. ChallengeBut our משנה counts layering and grafting
10. ResolutionForbidden grafting versus permitted grafting
11. QuestionWhat would permitted grafting actually look like?
12. ChallengeYoung onto young: he already goes home because of the first tree
13. ResolutionRather, young onto old
14. Challengeרבי אבהו: a young tree grafted onto an old one is cancelled
15. Resolutionרבי ירמיה: young onto young, where the first tree was for a fence or beams
16. ProofSupport: a tree planted for a fence or beams has no ערלה
17. ChallengeWhy is a young tree cancelled by an old one but not by a young one?
18. ResolutionAn old tree is locked in, but a wood tree can still become a fruit tree
19. ProofLike trees that grew by themselves
20. ChallengeWhy not say the vineyard belongs to two partners?
21. Resolutionרב פפא: partners in a vineyard do not go home
22. ChallengeBut five brothers all go home
23. ResolutionEach brother can call her 'his wife', but no partner can call it 'his vineyard'
24. Resolutionרב נחמן בר יצחק: grafting a tree onto a vegetable
25. ProofThis follows the תנא who permits grafting a tree onto a vegetable
26. Resolutionרבי יוחנן says the ruling follows רבי אליעזר בן יעקב
27. ProofReading 'planted' exactly as written
28. StatementA very short vine is always treated as ערלה
29. StatementThe rule applies only to a small group of vines
30. StatementA dead body takes up four אמות for קריאת שמע
31. StatementA stepdaughter raised with the brothers may not marry them
32. RejectionThe גמרא rejects the stepdaughter ruling
33. StatementGifts for the poor piled at the threshing floor need tithing
34. Statementעולא limits the ruling to a pile in the field
35. StatementA very short young vine does not make nearby seeds forbidden
36. StatementThe rule applies only to a tiny group of five vines
37. StatementOpening the next ruling in the chain