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Rosh Kollel: Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld


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Bava Metzia 104

BAVA METZIA 101-105 - Ari Kornfeld has generously sponsored the Dafyomi publications for these Dafim for the benefit of Klal Yisrael.

1) MUST A PURCHASE BE FIT ITS DESCRIPTION?

(a) (Mishnah): If Reuven said 'Rent to me this Beis ha'Shelachin or Beis ha'Ilan', (he deducts ...)
(b) Question: Why can't Shimon say 'They are just called that - the rental was not contingent on the spring or tree!'?
1. (Beraisa): Reuven said to Shimon 'I sell you a Beis Kor (the area of land in which a Kor of seed is planted) of dirt (i.e. the entire area is farmable)' - if people call it a Beis Kor, the sale stands, even if the area is only half of that;
i. This is because he sold a field called a Beis Kor.
2. 'I sell you a vineyard (or an orchard)' - if people call it that, the sale stands, even if has no vines (or trees) (as above);
3. Here also, he should be able to say, it is only called a Beis ha'Shelachin or Beis ha'Ilan!
(c) Answer #1 (Shmuel): When the seller (or owner) calls it so, he can say 'It is just called that'; when the buyer (or worker) calls it so, he bases the sale (or rental) on this.
(d) Answer #2 (Ravina): It does not depend on who calls it so.
1. In our Mishnah, he said 'this Beis ha'Shelachin' - they were standing in it, he did not need to say 'Beis ha'Shelachin' to identify it;
i. Rather, he called it a Beis ha'Shelachin to make the rental contingent on the spring.
2) RULINGS BASED ON THE WORDING PEOPLE USE
(a) (Mishnah): If Reuven accepted to work Shimon's field and he left it fallow, we estimate how much it would have produced, and he pays accordingly;
1. He accepted to do so in the contract - 'If I will leave it fallow and not work it, I will pay what it would have produced'.
(b) (Gemara): R. Meir would make rulings based on the language which people accustomed themselves to use.
1. (Beraisa - R. Meir): He accepted to do so in the contract - 'If I will leave it fallow and not work it, I will pay what it would have produced'.
(c) R. Yehudah would make rulings based on the language which people accustomed themselves to use.
1. (Beraisa - R. Yehudah): If a woman must bring a Oleh v'Yored (a sacrifice in which a rich person brings an animal, and a poor person brings birds or flour), her husband brings for her the sacrifice of a rich person;
i. Version #1 (our text, Tosfos): Men write in the Kesuvah - 'Any prior obligations of yours are upon me'.
ii. Version #2 (Rashi): A woman writes in a receipt of payment of the Kesuvah that she exempts her ex-husband from her obligatory sacrifices.
(d) Hillel would make rulings based on the language of people.
1. (Beraisa): People of Alexandria would Mekadesh women, and others would take the women at the time of the Nisu'in. Chachamim thought that the children (from the second man) were Mamzerim;
2. Hillel examined the Kesuvos (which were written at the time of Kidushin); they said 'After the Nisu'in, you will be my wife' - he ruled that the children are Kosher.
(e) R. Yehoshua ben Korchah would make rulings based on the language of people.
1. (Beraisa - R. Yehoshua ben Korchah): If Reuven lent Shimon, he may not (later tell an agent of Beis Din to) take collateral worth more than the loan, for when Reuven returns the pledge (before the debt is repayed), we evaluate it, and Shimon writes that he owes the value of the pledge.
2. Question: If he did not write this, would Reuven not get it back when Shimon dies?!
i. (R. Yochanan): Reuven took a pledge from Shimon and returned it; Shimon dies - Reuven takes the pledge from Shimon's children.
104b---------------------------------------104b

3. Answer: Writing this allows Reuven to also collect any depreciation of the pledge that occurs when Shimon held it.
(f) R. Yosi would make rulings based on the language of people.
1. (Beraisa - R. Yosi): In a place where a dowry is written in the Kesuvah as a loan (i.e. at its proper value), it is as a loan (her father must give the full amount to the Chasan; if she collects the Kesuvah, she collects the full amount);
i. In a place where they write double the amount of the dowry (to honor the Kalah), her father gives (and if she later collects the Kesuvah, she collects) half the amount written.
(g) People of Neharblai would collect a third.
(h) Mereimar would collect whatever was written (even though it was more than was given).
(i) Question (Ravina - Beraisa): In a place where they write double, she collects half.
(j) Answer (Mereimar): That is if no acquisition was made; if an acquisition was made, she collects what is written.
(k) Ravina wrote an inflated dowry to his daughter; they asked him to make an acquisition.
1. Ravina: I only write double if there is no acquisition.
(l) Reuven was dying; he commanded that they give a dowry of 400 to his daughter.
1. Question (Rav Acha brei d'Rav Avya): Does he mean to write 800 and give 400, or to write 400 and give 200?
2. Version #1 - Answer (Rav Ashi): If he said to give 400, he means to write 800; if he said to write 400, he means to give 200.
3. Version #2 - Answer (Rav Ashi): If he said to give 400 for her Kesuvah, he means to write 800 and give 400; if he said 400 in her Kesuvah, he means to give 200 and write 400 in the document.
4. Rejection: No - whether he said for or in, we write 400 and give 200, unless he said 400 without mentioning 'Kesuvah'.
3) A SHARECROPPER THAT DEVIATED
(a) Reuven accepted to be a sharecropper on a field; he promised to pay 1000 Zuz if he will leave it fallow. He left a third fallow.
1. (Chachamim of Nehardai): He must pay a third of 1000 Zuz.
2. (Rava): His promise was Asmachta, it is not binding.
(b) Question: According to Rava, why is this different than the Mishnah?
1. (Mishnah): 'If I will leave it fallow and not work it, I will pay what it would have produced'.
(c) Answer: That was not exaggerated, 1000 Zuz is an exaggeration.
(d) Reuven accepted to be a sharecropper to plant sesame on a field; he planted wheat (which depletes the land less than sesame), and it produced wheat worth as much as sesame would have been worth.
1. (Rav Kahana): The owner deducts from his own share the savings (the lower depreciation of his land).
2. Rejection (Rav Ashi): No - the owner would rather suffer depreciation of his land than a loss of money.
(e) Reuven accepted to be a sharecropper to plant sesame on a field; he planted wheat, and it produced more than the sesame would have been worth.
1. (Ravina): Reuven gets the entire added value of the wheat.
2. Rejection (Rav Acha mi'Difti): He did not cause the profit himself, the land also helped - they share the added value.
4) HOW ISKA WORKS
(a) (Chachamim of Nehardai): An Iska (Reuven gives Shimon merchandise to sell where it is expensive, on condition to share the profits - half is considered a loan, half is a deposit - Chachamim enacted that both gain;
1. Since half is a loan, Shimon may use his half for anything he wants.
(b) Rejection (Rava): No - it is called Iska because it is an investment;
1. (Rashi - Reuven relies on Shimon to work diligently because Shimon stands to gain in his half; Tosfos - Reuven wants collateral from which he can later collect the half that is a loan.)
(c) (Rav Idi bar Avin): If Shimon dies, the half which is a loan is considered Metaltelim, Reuven does not collect it from the orphans.
(d) Rejection (Rava): No - it is called Iska so if Shimon dies, Reuven can collect his loan from the orphans.
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