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Bava Metzia 108

BAVA METZIA 106-108 - Ari Kornfeld has generously sponsored the Dafyomi publications for these Dafim for the benefit of Klal Yisrael.

1) [line 2] ARBA - a boat
2) [line 4] "... V'YAD HA'SARIM VEHA'SEGANIM HAYESAH BA'MA'AL HA'ZEH RISHONA." - "... and the hand of the officials and the regents has been foremost in this trespass." (Ezra 9:2)

3) [line 9] HA'KOL L'IGLEI GAPA - everyone must pay for the upkeep of the gates of the city

4) [line 11] RABANAN LO TZERICHEI NETIRUSA - true Torah scholars do not need protection (since their Torah learning protects them, as the verse states "b'Shochbecha Tishmor Alecha" - [When you walk, it (the Torah) shall lead you;] when you sleep, it shall protect you; [and when you awake, it shall talk with you.]" -- Mishlei 6:22)

5) [line 11] L'CHARYA D'FASYA - for digging wells for drinking water
6) [line 12] D'LO NAFKA B'UCHLUZA - when the townspeople do not go out to dig the wells themselves (but rather hire laborers to do so)

7) [line 14] L'CHARYA D'NAHARA - for digging out a [blocked up] river or canal

8) [line 15] TATA'EI MESAYE'EI ILA'EI - those who live down river assist those who live upriver

9) [line 16] V'CHILUFA B'MAYA D'MITRA - and [with regard to a river that carries blockages of silt and mud,] the opposite is true after a rainfall. (Those who live upriver must help those who live down river to dig the sewage canals, while those who live downriver do not have to help those who live upriver.)

10) [line 17] MISTAKFOS - that are supplied with
11) [line 17] MA'AYAN - a spring of water
12) [line 20] MEKALCHOS MAYIM - that pour [sewage] water
13) [line 21] BIV - a ditch or open pipe that carries sewage water out of a private property

14) [line 24] D'ACHZIK RAKESA D'NAHARA - [a person] who takes possession of the land at the bank of the river. (In the time of the Persian dominion, the law was that anyone could take possession of land that was not owned by anyone else, on condition that he paid land tax for the land that he claimed.)

15) [line 25] HA'IDNA D'KA KASVEI PARSA'EI - nowadays that the Persian authorities write [in the contracts of a person who buys a field adjacent to the river bank]

16) [line 25] KANI LACH AD MALEI TZAVAREI SUSYA MAYA - "You own the property [of the riverbank and riverbed] until the height of the neck of a horse." (Nevertheless, the practice was for the owner of the field adjacent to the riverbank to build his fence far from the riverbank, leaving enough space for the people carrying merchandise on boats on the river to load and unload their merchandise on the riverbank. Consequently, if another person comes and seizes that land, we remove him from it, since it legally belongs to the field owner.)

17) [line 30] DINA D'VAR METZRA
When a person sells a field, the owner of the neighboring field has the first rights to buy it. If the owner sells it to someone else, then the neighbor has the right to take the field from him by paying the purchase price. This is an enactment of the Chachamim based on the verse, "v'Asisa ha'Yashar v'ha'Tov" (Devarim 6:18).

18) [line 32] ASA IMLICH BEI - he (the prospective buyer of the property) came to ask advice from him (the owner of the neighboring property regarding whether or not he should buy the land)

19) [line 32] AMAR LEI EIZIL IZBUN - he (the prospective buyer) said to him (the owner of the neighboring property), "Shall I go and buy it?"

20) [line 33] TZARICH L'MIKNA MINEI O LO? - Does he need to make a Kinyan with him (confirming the sincerity of the words of the owner of the neighboring property, so that the owner will not come later and take the land away from the buyer) or not?

21) [line 35] AYAKUR V'ZOL BI'RESHUSEI - it appreciated or depreciated while in his (the Bar Metzra's) possession (since he retained the right to buy it)

22) [line 36] ZAVAN B'ME'AH V'SHAVI MASAN - if the third party bought it for 100, and it was really worth 200

23) [line 38] L'SAKUNI SHEDARTICH V'LO L'AVUSI - I sent you to benefit me and not to cause me a loss

24) [line 40] EIN ONA'AH L'KARKA'OS - there is no law of Ona'ah with regard to purchases of land (ONA'AH)
(a) The law of Ona'ah is that if a seller makes a profit (without the purchaser's knowledge) of one sixth of the total value on an item that he sells, the transaction is valid, but the seller must return the profit to the purchaser. If the profit is less than one sixth, nothing is returned. If the profit is more than one sixth, the sale is invalid even if the profit is returned.
(b) With regard to sales of real estate, even if the profit is more than one sixth, the sale is valid and nothing is returned.

25) [line 40] GERIVA D'AR'A - the size of a field needed for a Geriva, or Se'ah, of seed (1 Se'ah = approximately 7.2, 8.29 or 14.4 liters, depending upon the differing Halachic opinions). The size of this field is 2500 square Amos (approximately 519.84, 576 or 829.4 square meters, depending upon the differing Halachic opinions)

26a) [last line] IDIS - the highest-quality land
b) [last line] ZIBURIS - the poorest-quality land

108b---------------------------------------108b

27) [line 1] I'ARUMEI KA MA'ARIM - he is using a deceptive act (by buying a small piece of land in the middle of the owner's property, the purchaser is making himself a Bar Metzra so that later he will be able to buy more of the owner's land and he will not be prevented from doing so by the other neighbor.)

28) [line 3] ACHRAYUS
(a) "Achrayus" is a way of insuring the purchase of land or the repayment of a debt. A person who sells a field to someone else can guarantee the field by obligating himself in Achrayus. If it is determined afterwards that the seller did not have the right to sell the land (for example, if there was a lien on the property and it was claimed by a creditor as repayment for a loan), the assets of the seller are made available to the buyer to collect the value of the property that was removed from his possession. If the field was purchased without Achrayus, the buyer has no legal claim against the seller, and he is not compensated at all for his loss (Bava Basra 44b).
(b) There is an argument among the Tana'im as to whether a seller automatically accepts upon himself Achrayus whenever he sells a property or obligates himself to pay someone (e.g. by writing a document of debt or a Kesuvah) with a Shtar (a legal document), even if it did not state in the Shtar that he accepts upon himself Achrayus for the sale. Rebbi Yehudah states that "Achrayus Ta'us Sofer;" the sale or debt *does* have Achrayus and the scribe simply forgot to include it in the Shtar. Rebbi Meir rules that we follow the plain reading of the Shtar, and therefore there is no Achrayus (Bava Metzia 13b).
(c) The Gemara (ibid. 15b) concludes that even if Achrayus was not written in the Shtar, the seller *is* obligated in Achrayus unless he made an explicit condition to be absolved of Achrayus. In the case of our Gemara, the seller indeed made an explicit condition to be absolved of Achrayus (RASHI).

29) [line 8] ARI AVRECHI LACH MI'METZRA - I have chased away a lion (i.e. a destructive element) from your border

30) [line 10] SHEMUTEI VADAI MESHAMTINAN LEI - we certainly put him in excommunication [until he agrees to accept any liability that comes as a result of his sale of the property to a Nochri] (SHAMTA - excommunication) See Background to Bava Kama 112:22.

31) [line 12] MASHKANTA - a tract of land held as security for a debt
32) [line 14] DI'SHECHUNAH GABEI - [the property] which dwells with him (the lender) (and thus the lender who is holding the property as a security is considered a neighbor and the other Bar Metzra cannot prevent him from buying that land)

33) [line 15] LIMKOR B'RACHOK V'LIG'OL B'KAROV - to sell property that is far away, and to redeem it with [purchasing] land that is nearby

34) [line 17] KERAGA - head-tax

35) [line 17] MEZONEI (MEZONOS HA'ALMANAH VEHA'BANOS)
(a) As long as they are married, a husband must provide his wife with Mezonos (sustenance). According to some Tana'im, this obligation is mid'Oraisa and is learned from the verse "She'erah... Lo Yigra" (Shemos 21:10). Other Tana'im maintain that the obligation to provide one's wife with Mezonos is only mid'Rabanan. It is one of the Tena'ei Kesuvah (stipulations of the Jewish marriage contract) which are imposed by Beis Din upon every Jewish man and wife (Kesuvos 47b, see Background to Gitin 48:24). Another Tenai Kesuvah is that after he dies, his daughters must be allowed to live in the house in which he lived, and must be provided for by his household, until they become married.
(b) If he dies before his wife, his wife must also be allowed to live in the house in which he lived and must be provided for by his household (with Mezonos) until she remarries. (This stipulation was only made in Yerushalayim and the Galil. In Yehudah, the heirs reserved for themselves the right to give her the value of her Kesuvah and have her find herself a new home.) (Mishnayos Kesuvos 4:7-12)

36) [line 20] ACHRAZTA (HACHRAZAH)
(a) Before Beis Din sells the property inherited by orphans to pay a debt of their father (or to pay other debts, as mentioned in our Gemara), they must first estimate the value of the property and then announce for thirty consecutive days or for a period of sixty days on Mondays and Thursdays that they are selling the property of orphans. They make the announcements in the morning and the evening at the time that workers are going to and coming back from work. The announcements in the morning are made so that a prospective buyer asks his worker to evaluate the property on his way to work; the announcements in the evening are made to remind the prospective buyer about the property so that he will ask his worker how much the property produces.
(b) At the time that the announcements are made, the distinguishing marks and the boundaries of the property are announced. Likewise, Beis Din announces the amount that the field produces, the estimated value, and the reason that it is being sold (whether to pay back a loan or to pay the Kesuvah of a widow. Some people prefer to pay a creditor because he will accept imperfect coins as payment, and some people prefer to pay a widow since she usually gets paid in small installments.)
(c) If Beis Din sold the property without a Hachrazah, the sale is invalid and the property has to be sold again with a Hachrazah. However, if Beis Din is selling the property in order to pay the head-tax of the orphans, to pay for the food of the widow or orphans, or to pay for the burial of the father or orphans, they do not make a Hachrazah, because there is no time to spare (Erchin 21b, RAMBAM Hilchos Malveh v'Loveh 12:8, 10-11).

37) [line 24] SHACHEN V'KAROV MAI? - If one person is a neighbor, and the other person is a relative, what is the Halachah (does the law of Bar Metzra apply)?

38) [line 25] "TOV SHACHEN KAROV ME'ACH RACHOK." - "A close neighbor is better than a distant brother." (Mishlei 27:10)

39a) [line 26] HANEI ZUZEI TAVEI V'HANEI ZUZEI TEKULEI - these [coins offered by the outside buyer] are good coins, and these [coins offered by the Bar Metzra] are inferior coins
b) [line 26] LEIS BEI DINA D'VAR METZRA - the law of Bar Metzra does not apply (because the owner of the land is entitled to sell the land to an outside buyer and receive good coins)

40a) [line 27] TZAIREI - tied in a bundle
b) [line 27] SHAREI - open (not tied in a bundle)
41) [line 29] ETRACH - I will toil
42) [line 30] AMID - he is estimated to be a person of means
43) [line 32] MAREI AR'A ME'AKEV A'MAREI BATEI - the owner of the land can prevent the owner of the houses [from selling the houses to an outsider]

44) [line 33] DIKLEI - date-palm trees
45) [line 35] YISHUV ADIF - buying the land for the purpose of building a house on it takes precedence

46) [line 35] AFSIK MESHUNISA - a large, protruding rock separates [the neighbor's property from the property being sold]

47) [line 35] RICHBA D'DIKLA - (O.F. plaisier) a row of folded tree branches which forms a fence

48) [line 36] TELEM - furrow
49) [last line] PALGU LAH B'KARNEZIL - it is divided diagonally (in two directions in order to divide it into four pieces of land)

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