תלמוד על בבא בתרא 9:1

MISHNAH: Two robbery¹In most sources of the Babli גזירות. Probably this is simply a case of change of liquids. It is stated in Šeqalim 4:3 that the judges in criminal law were paid from the Temple taxes. judges were in Jerusalem, Admon and Ḥanan ben Absalom. Ḥanan said two things and Admon seven²All recorded statements of Admon and Ḥanan refer to civil law; the count refers only to those statements which were disputed by the High Priest’s sons. It is possible that the latter represented Sadducee practice.. If somebody went overseas and his wife now is demanding sustenance³She goes to court to obtain permission to sell from her husband’s real estate. She claims either that the husband did not provide her with household money before he left or that he stayed overseas longer than intended and that her household money is now exhausted., Ḥanan says that she is made to swear in the end⁴Either news is received that her husband died and she requests her ketubah or her husband returns and claims that she sold too much of his property. In both cases she has to provide an accounting and swear that nothing of her husband’s money remains in her hand.. The High Priests’ sons disagreed with him and said, she is made to swear in the beginning⁵The court should not grant her permission to sell her husband’s property unless she swears that all her claims are true. and in the end; Rebbi Dosa ben Hyrkanos endorsed their statement. Rabban Joḥanan ben Zakkai said, Ḥanan said correctly that she is made to swear only in the end.

From where that non-guaranteed property¹³⁵Movables, which cannot have a title guarantee. may be acquired with guaranteed property¹³⁶Real estate., by money, document, or possession? Rebbi Yose¹³⁷He is Rebbi Yasa, Assi. The entire paragraph is paralleled in Babli Qiddušin 26a–27a; there, the verse is simply quoted by Ḥizqiah himself. in the name of Ḥizqiah; Rebbi Jonah, Rebbi Ḥanina Tortaya in the name of Ḥizqiah, it is written (2Chr. 21:3): “Their father gave them many gifts, silver and gold and delicacies, with fortified cities in Jehudah¹³⁸The language implies that the gift of valuables was contingent on the gift of cities..” So far real estate and movables were at the same place. If real estate was at one place and movables elsewhere? Rebbi Abin bar Ḥiyya said, let us hear from the following: Rebbi Eliezer¹³⁹Reading in the Yerushalmi and Baba Batra 9:9, Babli Baba Batra 156b, and in Tosephta Baba Batra 10:12. The corresponding Mishnah, Baba Batra 9:9 reads R. Eliezer in the Yerushalmi and also in the Munich manuscript of the Babli, as well as in the Venice and Lublin prints. It was changed to R. Eleazar (ben Shamua) in modern prints of the Babli, following the reading at one place in Babli Qiddušin, on the authority of Rabbenu Tam (Tosaphot Baba Batra 156a) for stylistic reasons. However, the overwhelming majority of manuscript sources must have priority over arguments concerning style. said to them, it happened that a man from Madon¹⁴⁰A town in Galilee, on the heights overlooking the sea of Galilee, mentioned Joshua 11:1. The man was in Jerusalem, fell ill, and wanted to distribute his property to people in his home town, other than the legal heirs. was in Jerusalem, rich in movables. He wanted to distribute them, to give them as gifts. They said to him, you cannot do that¹⁴¹Transfer movable property as gift without the recipients taking possession at least symbolically. except if you acquire real estate. What did he do? He went and bought a rock¹⁴²A cheap piece of land without practical use. (In one interpretation in the Babli Baba Batra, he bought land the size of a sela‘, i. e., a tetradrachma, a silver coin about the size of a quarter. A pun may be intended, since Hebrew סלע also means “rock”.) near Jerusalem and said: The Northern part I give to X with a hundred amphoras of wine, the Southern part I give to Y with a hundred amphoras of oil. The matter came before the Sages and they upheld his words¹⁴³It seems that the legal heirs went to court to annul the distribution. Since the amphoras could not be placed on the rock, it is clear that real estate and movables were at different places.. Rebbi Ḥananiah said before Rebbi Mana: But was he not bedridden¹⁴⁴Many rules of transfer and wills are waved for seriously sick persons to assure them that their orders will be obeyed. The first example given by R. Ḥanania is generally accepted; the second one is then offered as interpretation of this Tosephta, that acquisition of movables remote from the land transferred might be valid only for bedridden persons.? For in general a person might give property rights only in writing, and here even orally. In general, a person might give only if real estate and movables are at the same place, but here the real estate even was at one place and the movables elsewhere. He said to him: But is there a difference for Rebbi Eliezer? The sick person for Rebbi Eliezer is like the healthy person for the rabbis¹⁴⁵In Mishnah Baba Batra 9:9, R. Eliezer (Bavli in some versions R. Eleazar) explicitly states that bedridden persons are not exempt from the stringent rules of transfer; he does not allow oral bequests..