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Bava Kama 51
1) [line 4] BEIS HA'SEKILAH (ARBA MISOS BEIS DIN)
(a) Arba Misos Beis Din, the four death penalties administered by Beis Din,
in their order of stringency are:
1. Sekilah (stoning)
2. Sereifah (burning with molten lead, which is poured down the throat)
3. Hereg (killing with a sword) (Sefer ha'Chinuch #50)
4. Chenek (strangulation) (Sefer ha'Chinuch #47)
(b) According to the Rebbi Shimon (Mishnah Sanhedrin 9:3, Gemara Sanhedrin
49b), the order of their stringency is Sereifah, Sekilah, Hereg and Chenek.
(c) A person who is sentenced to stoning is taken to the Beis ha'Sekilah,
which is outside of any settlement (Sanhedrin 42b). It is two times the
height of an average person, and the convict is brought up to the top of it
with his hands tied, after causing him to become inebriated. The witnesses
to his crime also go up with him, and one of them pushes him off. If he does
not die from the fall, the witnesses throw onto him a stone that needs two
people to lift. If he still does not die, all other people who are assembled
there throw stones onto him until he dies.
(d) The Torah states, "v'Chi Yiheyeh v'Ish Chet Mishpat Maves...Lo Salin
Nivlaso Al ha'Etz, Ki Kavor Tikberenu ba'Yom ha'Hu..." - "And if a man has
committed a sin deserving death, and he is put to death, you shall hang him
on a gallows. However, his body shall not remain all night upon the gallows,
but rather you shall bury him that day..." (Devarim 21:22-23). Rebbi Eliezer
(Sanhedrin 45b) rules that this verse refers to all convicts who are stoned.
After being executed, their dead bodies are hanged. The Rabanan argue,
claiming that a blasphemer or an idolater is the only capital offender who
is hanged after stoning. The hanging takes place just before sunset, when
the dead body is hanged and immediately taken down to be buried.
2) [line 5] V'KOMAH SHELO; HAREI KAN SHALOSH - and his own height, resulting
in a total of height of three times the height of a person
3) [line 10] MINVAL - he would become disfigured or dismembered
4) [line 11] "...KI YIPOL HA'NOFEL MIMENU." - "[When you build a new house,
you must make a guardrail for your roof; so that you shall not shed blood in
your house] because the falling person will fall from it." (Devarim 22:8)
5a) [line 12] HAYESAH RESHUS HA'RABIM GAVO'AH MIMENU ASARAH TEFACHIM - if
Reshus ha'Rabim was ten Tefachim higher than the person's roof
b) [line 13] V'NAFAL MI'TOCHAH L'SOCHO; PATUR - and he fell from it (Reshus
ha'Rabim) onto it (the roof), [the owner of the house is] exempt [from any
damages caused by the fall]
6) [line 18] ME'AVRAI - on the outside
7) [line 18] DAL MINEI - subtract from it
8a) [line 18] TIKRAH - the [thickness of the] ceiling
b) [line 18] MA'AZIVAH - the [thickness of the] Ma'azivah, a mixture of mud
and sand or stone chips, etc., that covers a ceiling
9) [line 19] MI'GAVAI - from the inside
10) [line 19] LO HAVEI ASARAH - there is not [a height of] ten Tefachim [on
the inside of the house, thus refuting the contention that the term "Bayis,"
"house," can only be used if there is a minimum height of ten Tefachim]
11) [line 19] CHAK - excavated
12) [line 21] KEREISA D'SORA - the underbelly of the bull
13) [line 24] IGANDER LA'BOR - [from a state of lying on the ground] it
rolled into the pit
14) [line 31] EIN SHALI'ACH LI'DEVAR AVEIRAH - a Shali'ach cannot be
appointed to perform an Aveirah
See Insights to Kidushin 42:3.
15) [line 34] AKRU SHENEIHEM CHULYA B'VAS ACHAS - [e.g. one of them dug a
pit nine Tefachim deep and] the two of them broke loose and removed at the
same time one more Tefach of dirt
16) [line 41] V'LO SHOR BOR - if an animal created a pit, the owner of the
animal is not liable
17) [line 44] SHOR PESULEI HA'MUKDASHIN
(a) Pesulei ha'Mukdashin are Korbanos that became unfit to be offered upon
the Mizbe'ach because of a Mum (blemish). After they are redeemed, it is
still forbidden to work with them ("Avodah") or to shear them ("Gizah"). The
milk they produce is also forbidden. They are only permitted to be eaten
after being slaughtered (Bechoros 15b).
(b) Because of these restrictions, Pesulei ha'Mukdashin are excluded from
the specifications of the verse that states "Ba'al ha'Bor Yeshalem veha'Mes
Yiheyeh *Lo*" - "The owner of the pit shall make restitution and the carcass
will be *his*." As a result, when an animal of Pesulei ha'Mukdashin falls
into a pit, the owner of the pit is exempt from liability.
(c) The Mishnah in Bechoros (5:1) states that Pesulei ha'Mikdashin may be
sold in the marketplace and weighed with a Roman Libra, a pound. These acts
are normally considered unfitting for Kodshim, and are prohibited to be done
to a Bechor.
18) [last line] SIYED V'KIYED - he plastered it and drew designs in the
plaster (these actions cause this previously wide Bor to become narrow and
dusty, introducing the injurious Hevel into it)
51b---------------------------------------51b
19a) [line 18] TAM TEFACH - he filled in one Tefach [of the Bor]
b) [line 18] V'SILEK AVANAV - and he took away the stones [that had
previously served as the top edge of the Bor and had completed the height of
ten Tefachim]
20) [line 25] LO NEFISHEI MAYA - there is not a lot of water
21) [line 36] GISA - side
22) [line 43] DALYO - its cover
23) [line 43] HA'MADLEH - one who draws water with a bucket
24) [line 46] YESH BEREIRAH
(a) In numerous places in Shas we find arguments among the Tana'im/Amora'im
as to whether "Yesh Bereirah" (i.e. Bereirah works) or "Ein Bereirah" (i.e.
Bereirah doesn't work). Bereirah means making one's action contingent
retroactively on future events. Examples of this are: selling an object on
the condition that it rains tomorrow; buying or selling *today* an object
that will be selected tomorrow. "Ein Bereirah" means that such a stipulation
does not work. An action cannot be contingent on a future event. The Ran
(Nedarim 45b) explains the logic of this rule by saying, "It is not proper
for something to take effect, when there remains a doubt on *what* it will
take effect" (See Insights to Chulin 15:2.). "Yesh Bereirah" means that such
a stipulation does work.
(b) When the action is contingent on a *past* event, there is no question
that the action works -- even if the people involved in the action are not
aware as to whether the past event did or did not take place. Example: If a
person makes two Eruvei Techumin before sundown on Erev Shabbos, in two
different directions, and stipulates "if my Rebbi is *presently* staying in
a village towards the East, I would like the Eastern Eruv to work, if not, I
would like the Western Eruv to work." The man making the Eruv may not know
where his Rebbi is, but when he finds out, the Eruv will have taken effect
on the side that he stipulated.
(c) We find dozens of instances in the Gemara where a person may perform an
action "on the condition that..." (b'Tenai). For example, a man may buy or
sell an object or divorce his wife on the condition that the other party
pays or does whatever the first party specifies. If the condition is not
kept *in the future*, the sale or divorce is annulled. This situation is not
called Bereirah -- see Insights to Yoma 56:1.
(d) Halachically, most Poskim conclude (based on Beitzah 38a) that regarding
Biblical questions (mid'Oraisa), we assume that Bereirah does not work
(l'Chumrah), but in regards to Rabbinical questions (mid'Rabanan), we rely
on Bereirah.
25) [line 47] AZDU L'TA'AMAIHU - and they (Rebbi Eliezer ben Yakov and
Rabanan) each follow their own reasoning elsewhere
26) [line 52] IY B'CHASPA / IY B'CHAZAKAH (KINYAN KESEF V'KINYAN CHAZAKAH)
(a) When a person buys an object, he must make a Ma'aseh Kinyan, a formal
Halachically-binding act denoting his acquisition of the object, in order
for the sale to be irrevocably binding. Depending on what object one is
acquiring, different Kinyanim are used, as follows.
(b) The forms of Kinyan that may be used for the acquisition of Metaltelin
(mobile items) are:
1. Hagbahah, i.e. lifting the item;
2. Meshichah, i.e. pulling the item or causing it to move;
3. Mesirah, i.e. handing over the reigns of an animal or the tie lines of a
boat, or a bill of debt (Shtar Chov);
4. Chatzer, i.e. bringing the item into one's private domain;
5. Chalipin (exchange or barter), i.e. taking another object to demonstrate
one's consent for the Kinyan (or for an agreement).
6. Agav, i.e. acquiring the moveable object automatically upon the
acquisition of land.
(c) The forms of Kinyan that may be used for the acquisition of land are:
1. Kesef, i.e. paying at least a Perutah's worth of money for the land;
2. Shtar, i.e. receiving a legal document containing the details of the
sale;
3. Chazakah, i.e. performing an act that is normally performed only by an
owner;
4. Chalipin (as mentioned above, b:5)
(d) Examples of Chazakah for real estate are Na'al (locking), Gadar (fencing
in) and Paratz (making a breach in a fence to create an entrance) or any act
that is done to *enhance* the land, such as digging to improve a field and
the like (MISHNAH Bava Basra 42a).
27) [line 52] BA'I L'MEIMAR LEI "LECH CHAZEK U'KENI" - he needs to say to
him, "Go, do an act of Chazakah, and acquire it."
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