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1)

(a) Rava (or Rabah) justified to Abaye the fact that he purchased a bundle of branches from an Aris (a share-cropper), despite of our Mishnah, which prohibits doing so from the guardian of an orchard - because an Aris (unlike a guardian) owns part of the produce, and there is no reason to assume that what he is selling is not his own.

(b) The Tana of the Beraisa forbids any clandestine sale of wood and fruit from the guardian of an orchard, though he does permit it if they are sitting and selling - with their baskets and large scales in front of them.

(c) In addition - they must be sitting at the front entrance of the orchard and not at the back, for the sale to be permitted.

(a) Rav permits buying from a Gazlan provided most of his possessions are not stolen. According to Shmuel - it is permitted to do so, as long as he has property of his own, even if it is only a minority of what he owns.

(b) Rav Yehudah taught Ada *Dayla* (which means 'Shamash of the Rabbanan'), that he should follow the opinion of Shmuel.

(c) Rav Huna and Rav Yehudah argue over whether one may destroy the money of a Masur (who divulges the whereabouts of money or property belonging to his fellow-Jews). This might be permitted - because his money should not be more stringent than his body (which under certain conditions, one is permitted to destroy).

(d) The other opinion forbids doing so, on the basis of the Pasuk "Yachin Rasha ve'Tzadik Yilbash" - which teaches us to spare the money of a Rasha, because he might father a son who is a Tzadik, and who will later inherit it.

(a) Rav Chisda was unhappy with his Aris - because he would divide the crops meticulously, taking great care not to lose one grain (going against the grain of Vatranus [the Midah of foregoing]); or because he took half the crops, when the Minhag ha'Makom was to take only a third.

(b) The action that prompted his quotation of the Pasuk "ve'Tzafun la'Tzadik Cheil Chotei" - was that he fired him.

(a) The Pasuk in Mishlei, in connection with a Chanaf (a Ganav in this context), writes "Ki Yishal Eloka Nafsho". The two possible connotations of "Nafsho" are - either the soul of the Nigzal (who was robbed) or that of the Gazlan.

(b) Rav Huna and Rav Chisda argue over this point. One of them proves from the Pasuk ...

1. ... "Kein Orchos Kol Botze'a Betza, es Nefesh Ba'alav Yikach" - that the previous Pasuk must be referring to the soul of the Nigzal (the original owner)
2. ... "Al Tigzal Ki Dal Hu ... Ki Hashem Yariv Rivam ve'Kava es Kov'eihem Nefesh" - that it must refer to the Gazlan.

(c)

1. The second opinion interprets "es Nefesh *Ba'alav* Yikach" - as the current owner (the Gazlan).
2. The first opinion interprets "ve'Kava es Kov'eihem Nefesh" to mean - that Hashem is 'Kava Kov'eihem' (gives the robbers a taste of their own medicine, so to speak) because they took the *Nigzal's* 'Nefesh'.

(a) Rebbi Yochanan learns from the above Pasuk "Kein Orchos Kol Botze'a Betza, es Nefesh Ba'alav Yikach" - that the Torah considers robbing a person of a mere Perutah, as if one had taken his soul (conforming with the first of the previous opinions).

(b) From the Pasuk ...

1. ... "ve'Achal Ketzircha ve'Lachm'cha, Yochlu Banecha u'Venosecha" - he extends the above Limud to the Nigzal's children as well (seeing as to the extent that a person is deprived of his Parnasah, his family suffer too.
2. ... "el Shaul ve'el Beis ha'Damim Al Asher Heimis es ha'Giv'onim" - he extends it to there where the Gazlan did not actually steal, but only caused the Nigzal to lose money or part of his income.

(c) King Shaul was termed guilty of having caused he death of the Giv'onim - for killing all the inhabitants of Nov, the city of Kohanim, for whom the Giv'onim worked, thereby depriving them of their source of income.

(a) The Tana of the Beraisa permits the purchase of woolen garments in Yehudah from women ... just like our Mishnah. He prohibits however, purchasing wine, oil or flour ...

1. ... from them ...
2. ... and from Avadim and small children.

(b) Aba Shaul permits buying from a woman all the above things to the value of four or five Sela'im (provided the sale is not clandestine) - for the woman to be able to purchase the materials to make herself a small hat (to which her husband would certainly not object.

(c) A Gabai Tzedakah - is permitted to accept small donations of Tzedakah from a woman, but not large amounts.

(d) Nevertheless, Ravina, who was a Gabai Tzedakah, justified (to Rabah Tosfa'ah) his accepting golden chains and bracelets from the women of Mechuza - attributing it to the fact that Mechuza was a wealthy town, these were considered small donations.

(a) One is permitted to buy olives and oil from the wife of the owner of an oil-press - provided they sell them openly in quantities that they would normally be sold in a store. Note, that nowadays, when many women have their own income, and are often even the breadwinners, these Dinim are not applicable.

(b) Assuming 'be'Mu'at' to mean 'a little', the Tana prohibits buying small quantities from them - because such small amounts could easily be prepared and sold without her husband's knowledge.

(c) 'be'Mu'at' might also mean - the vat, and it is unusual to sell the olives or the oil at that stage.

(d) Raban Shimon ben Gamliel permits buying from them in the upper-Galil (where oil was expensive) on Yom-Tov (or be'Mu'at) - because a man would sometimes be embarrassed to sell them from his house, and he would appoint his wife to do so on his behalf.

(a) A laundryman is permitted to keep the pieces of fluff that come off a woolen garment during laundering - because the owner is generally Mochel them. Consequently, this applies even if the owner objects (unless of course he initially stipulated that they would be his).

(b) This concession does not apply to the fluff that comes off with the combing of the fuller (who combs wool) - because those pieces of fluff tend to be larger and more valuable than those that come off during the laundering.

(c) The significance of the three threads that the fuller may take is - that they are made of a different material, and are intended to be removed the first time they are laundered.

(d) He is permitted to take even more - in the event that the threads are black and the garment white, because then they are considered particularly unsightly, and the owner will presumably be Mochel them, however many they are.

(a) The owner takes both ...

1. ... the length of thread left by the tailor at the end of the garment to stitch with ...
2. ... and the piece of cloth three by three finger-breadths, which the tailor cuts off when stretching the cloth to straighten it.

(b) Whereas ...

1. ... the carpenter may take the small shavings that remain after the wood has been planed with an adze (a small ax) ...
2. ... it is the owner who takes the (larger) shavings that remain after it has been chopped with a large ax.

(c) The above however, is confined to someone who is commissioned to work from home. In the event that he works from the house of the employer as a day-worker, everything, even the sawdust, belongs to the owner.

(d) Seeing as we learned earlier that the fluff from woolen clothes belongs to the laundryman - it stands to reason that one may purchase them from him.

10)

(a) The Tana of the Beraisa also permits the laudryman to keep the two threads at the end of the garment - our Mishnah, which permitted three, is speaking about thin threads, whereas the Beraisa is speaking about thick ones.

(b) When the Tana says 've'Lo Yatil Bo Yoser mi'Sheloshah Chubin', he means - that the loops which the fuller makes at the end of the garment, which he uses to stretch the garment (before cutting off the protruding sections), should not consist of more than three threads (because if they do, he will be able to pull the garment tighter, leaving himself more to cut off [which he subsequently takes, as we shall see]).

(c) Rebbi Yirmiyah asks whether 'Amtuyi va'Asuyi' is considered one or two, and remains with 'Teiku'. What he means is - whether one stitch consists of a thread going in once, or whether it comprises the thread going in and then out again, as is the way of tailors.

(d) The fuller combs with the direction of the Shesi (the warp), not of the Arev (the woof) - and he cuts the stretched wool from along the length, and not the breadth.

(a) We reconcile the previous Beraisa, which instructs the fuller to comb with the Shesi, not with the Arev, with the Beraisa, which says the opposite - by establishing the former by a 'Sarb'la' (a Shabbos cloak, which is more beautiful when it is combed in the direction of the Shesi), and the latter by a 'G'lima' (a weekday cloak), which will last longer if it is combed in the direction of the Arev.

(b) One is not permitted to buy fluff from the fuller, because, as we learned in our Mishnah, he is not entitled to keep it. It is permitted however - there where it is Minhag ha'Makom that the fluff goes to the fuller.

(c) One may, in any case, buy from him cushions filled with fluff - because he acquired it with Shinuy (see Rashba).

(a) One may not buy from a weaver Irin, Nirin, Punklin or P'kayos. Irin are remnants of wool that the weaver places at both ends of the Arev-rod to prevent the Arev from slipping off the rod, and Nirin are warp-threads (through which the threads of the warp are passed).

1. Punklin are - the remaining threads from the Arev used for curtain-making (where rods are not used).
2. P'kayos are - the remains of the balls of thread.

(b) One is permitted to buy a cloth of many colors from a weaver - (even though this indicates that he stole cloth from many different garments) - because he acquired the garment with Shinuy.

(c) One is permitted to purchase Arev, Shesi, Tavi (spun cloth) or Arig (woven cloth) from him - because he acquires all of these with Shinuy.

(d) Normally, woven cloth has been spun first. Here however, we establish 'Arig' by tresses (that are made of unspun linen).

(a) One may not buy from a dyer Osos or Dugmos, nor small pieces of wool. 'Osos' are - small samples cut off from the garment to be dyed, to test whether the garment will dye well or not; whereas 'Dugmos' are - colored samples of dyed wool, which the owner shows the dyer, to demonstrate the color he wants.

(b) One may however, purchase from him spun samples or samples that he wove into a garment (because he acquired them with Shinuy). Normally, seeing as he acquires the spun samples, the Tana would not need to add samples that he wove into a garment (seeing as these have already been spun). Woven garments in this context however - refers to felt, which was not spun first.

(c) The cuttings which the tanner removes from the skins and any loose wool belong to the owner - wool which comes up during the washing of the skins the tanner may keep, because it is so little, that the owner considers it Hefker.

(a) The significance of the fact that a laundryman is called 'Katzra' - is that the word means short (perhaps because wool tends to shrink when it is washed), and the pieces that he cuts off the garment (to straighten it) after laundering belong to him.

(b) Rav Yehudah says that the three threads in our Mishnah which the laundryman did not remove - must be counted in the Shiur of a 'M'lo Kesher Agudal' (the minimum half-thumb distance required from the edge of the garment until the spot where one hangs the Tzitzis).

(c) His son Yitzchak however - uncertain whether to count them in the Shiur or not, used to cut them off (in order to avoid any Safek).

(a) We learned in our Mishnah that the thread left by the tailor belongs to the owner. The minimum thread length required, according to Rav Asi is - one needle-length plus.

(b) This could either mean - a needle-length plus a Mashehu, or a needle-length plus a needle-length.

(c) The Tana of another Beraisa states that in a case where the tailor left a thread less than is fit to stitch with or a piece that is less than three by three finger-breadths - it belongs to the owner if he is fussy, and to the laundryman, if he is not.

(d) We extrapolate from here that the minimum Shiur cannot possibly be a needle-length plus a Mashehu - because if it were, of what use would a thread any shorter than that be, since it is impossible to sew anything at all with it?

(e) On the other hand, a needle-length plus a bit less than another needle-length is fit for - making the small loops of which we spoke earlier.

(a) We learned in our Mishnah that the carpenter may take the small shavings that remain after the wood has been planed with a Ma'atzad (an adze). The Tana of the Beraisa rules that ...

1. ... the chippings of wood that the carpenter planed with a Ma'atzad or sawed off with a saw - belong to the owner.
2. ... the sawdust that remained after he has drilled with an awl, planed with a plane or sawn off with a saw - belongs to the carpenter.

(b) We reconcile the two contradictory rulings regarding a Ma'atzad - by pointing out that in the place where the Tana of our Mishnah lived, there were two kinds of axes, the large one they called 'Keshil', and the small one, 'Ma'atzad'; whereas in the place where the Tana of the Beraisa lived, there was only a large kind of ax, which they called 'Ma'atzad'.

(c) The Tana says that ...

1. ... stone cutters (who shape and smoothen stones) - are not considered thieves (because the stone-shavings are considered Hefker).
2. ... pruners (of trees or of bushes) and weeders (who weed vegetables that are growing among the seeds or that are growing too thickly) - are considered thieves, provided the owner is particular that he receives his branches and vegetables; otherwise not.

(d) According to Rebbi Yehudah, hops, and crops in their early stages of growth are not subject to theft (except in a place where people tend to be particular about them). Ravina commented - that Masa Mechsaya was a town where the people were particular about these things.

On to Bava Metzia