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Bava Metzia 109

BAVA METZIA 109-110 - anonymously dedicated by an Ohev Torah and Marbitz Torah in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel.

1) [line 2] PISHTAN - flax
2) [line 2] KOROS SHIKMAH - the branches of a sycomore tree (Egyptian fig; even though it produces fruit, the fruit is inferior and thus the tree is considered an Ilan Serak, as the Mishnah says in Kela'im 6:4; see TOSFOS YOM TOV there)

3) [line 5] SHEVACH SHIKMAH - the value of the improvement made to the sycomore tree

4a) [line 9] YARKA - vegetables
b) [line 10] SILKA - beets

5) [line 12] SHEVI'IS
See Background to Bava Metzia 106:6.

6) [line 12] SHEVI'IS MI KA MAFKE'A AR'A?! - Does the arrival of the Shevi'is year remove land from one's possession [and return it to the original owner]?!

7) [line 14] YOVEL
(a) The year after 7 Shemitah cycles of 7 years each is called the Yovel year. There is an argument among the Tana'im as to whether the 50th year is not counted as one of the years of Shemitah, or whether it is part of the count and is itself *both* the Yovel and the 1st year of the next Shemitah cycle.
(b) The Halachos of the Shemitah year apply in the Yovel year with regard to not working the land and maintaining the sanctity of the fruits that grow (See Background to Bava Metzia 106:6). In addition, at the start of the Yovel year, all Jewish slaves (Eved Ivri, see Background to Bava Metzia 71:16) are set free and all properties that were sold since the previous Yovel year are returned to their original owners (see Background to Bava Metzia 30:36). On Yom ha'Kipurim of the Yovel Year, Beis Din blows a Shofar to denote that the time has come to set free all of the slaves, as the Torah states in Vayikra 25:9.
(c) There is an argument among the Tana'im as to what is considered the beginning of the Yovel year. According to the Chachamim, Yovel starts with the Shofar blast of Yom ha'Kipurim. According to Rebbi Yochanan ben Berokah, it begins at Rosh ha'Shanah, and the Shofar blast only denotes the completion of the process of freeing the slaves (Rosh Hashanah 8b).

8) [line 14] YOVEL MI KA MAFKE'A KABLANUS?! - Does the arrival of the Yovel year remove a lease from land?!

9) [line 15] "LI'TZMISUS" AMAR RACHMANA - the Torah says [that Yovel removes the land from one's possession only when it would otherwise remain in his possession] "forever"

10) [line 20] "V'YATZA MIMKAR BAYIS" - "And the house that was sold shall be released" (Vayikra 25:33)

11a) [line 22] AFKATA - cancellation of obligations; exceptional legislation
b) [line 22] AFKATA D'MALKA - a special royal dispensation
12) [line 23] ASPASTA - any plant especially adapted for use as animal fodder; grass

13) [line 24] KADCHU BA TA'ALEI - small date-palm trees grew in it
14) [line 25] DIKLA V'ALIM - [if one leased] a tree [from its owner in order to harvest its fruits] and it became stronger

15) [line 28] YADA D'ASPASTA - the [small] area on which he could have grown Aspasta

16) [line 29] KURKEMA RISHKA RAVA'I - I would have grown there saffron or garden safflower (which is very valuable)

17) [line 31] AHADAR LEI MESHUNISA - it (the field) became surrounded by a protective rock [along its boundary]

18) [line 31] KADCHU BEI ZARDESA - (O.F. cormier) sorb trees grew in it

19a) [line 32] MISHUM D'ASISU MI'MULA'EI - (a) since you come from a family with a permanent, incurable blemish (RASHI to Kesuvos 85a); (b) i. since you come from a severed (short-lived) family (the House of Eli, whose male members were cursed to die young - see Shmuel I 2:27-35) (RASHI here and to Yevamos 76a); ii. since you come from the town of Memula, the residence of the House of Eli (TOSFOS to Yevamos ibid., RASHBAM to Bava Basra 137b); (c) since you are a great person (ARUCH)
b) [line 33] AMRISU MILEI MULYASA - (a) you say blemished words (RASHI here); (b) you say severed words (that have no foundation) (RASHI to Eruvin 25b); (c) you say great (impossible) words (ARUCH)

20) [line 34] SHASLA - a sharecropper (hired for long-term, or permanently) who plants vineyards for a percentage of the yield

21) [line 34] SHACHIV - he died
22) [line 34] SHAVAK CHAMISHAH CHASNEVASA - he left five sons-in-law (who would all take his position and work the field)

23) [line 39] V'LAV MILSA HI - and it is not a proper ruling
24) [line 40] AFSID - he caused a loss (to part of the improvements that he had made to the field -- RASHI)

25) [line 42] ASMACHTA LO KANYA
(a) Asmachta refers to "reliance" upon a particular eventuality or a conditional [monetary] obligation which the party or parties involved undertake without full commitment. The reason that the party involved does not commit himself fully is because his obligation is contingent upon the fulfillment of a condition that he anticipates will not be fulfilled. (An example of this is when gamblers place wagers, where neither of them expects to lose the wager.)
(b) The Tana'im (Bava Basra 168a) argue as to whether such a commitment is binding or not.

26) [line 43] IM OVIR V'LO A'AVID, ASHALEM B'MEITVA - "If I let the land lie fallow and I do not work it, I will pay you with my highest quality property." The sharecropper is obligated to pay the field owner a certain percentage of the field's produce. In this case, in the sharecropping agreement the sharecropper stipulates that if he does not work the field, he will compensate the field owner for his share of the produce that the field would have produced, and if he does not pay cash as compensation, he will let the field owner take the best of his fields as compensation.

27) [line 44] MAI D'AFSID ASHALEM - [there,] he is compensating for that which he caused to be lost

28) [line 44] MENAKINAN LEI - [here,] we deduct for him [the loss that he caused, and he receives the remainder of the value of the improvements]

29a) [last line] MAKREI DARDEKEI - a teacher of young boys (who teaches them to read verses)
b) [last line] TABACHA - a ritual slaughterer
c) [last line] UMNA - (a) a blood-letter (RASHI to Bava Metzia 97a); (b) a Mohel (MAHARSHAL there); see Insights here

109b---------------------------------------109b

d) [line 1] SAPAR MASA - (a) the town barber (RASHI, NIMUKEI YOSEF); (b) the town scribe (NIMUKEI YOSEF)

30) [line 11] DANKA - one-sixth (i.e. the 1/4th of the improvements that the sharecropper receives is 1/4th of the landowner's share, which is 2/3rds of the total improvements (since he must give 1/3rd to the new sharecropper), which equals 1/6th of the total improvements (before the 1/3rd is deducted for the new sharecropper). For example, if the total improvement was worth 6, the new sharecropper receives 2, and of the remaining 4, the old sharecropper receives 1.)

31) [line 28] KUPA SABA - an old grapevine

32) [line 29] HA'HU GAVRA D'MASHKIN PARDEISA L'CHAVREI L'ESER SHENIN - a certain person who gave his orchard as a security for a loan to the lender for ten years (MASHKANTA D'SURA / NACHYASA)
(a) "The Mashkon of Sura" refers to when the two parties (the lender and borrower) specifically stipulate that when the years of the Mashkon terminate, the field will go back to the debtor and the debt will be settled (its produce, or rental value, for each year being deducted from the amount owed for the loan).
(b) A "Nachyasa" refers to collateralized land with diminution. This refers to a case in which the borrower gave land to the lender as collateral, and the lender eats the fruit of the land with an arrangement to deduct the value of the fruit (or a symbolic value) from the amount the borrower owes him.

33) [line 30] V'KASH L'CHAMESH SHENIN - and it became old [and stopped bearing fruit] after five years (when it was expected to stop bearing fruit)

34a) [line 31] PEIRA HEVEI - they (the old trees) are considered like the produce of the land (which the lender may keep as repayment for his loan)
b) [line 31] KARNA HEVEI - they (the old trees) are considered like the principle (i.e. they are considered like the land itself, which the lender may not keep but which he sells and uses the proceeds to buy new land, and he may keep the produce of that new land, and he must return the land itself to the borrower at the end of the term of the Mashkon)

35) [line 32] YAVESH HA'ILAN O NIKTZATZ - if the tree (on the field serving as the Mashkon) dried out or was cut down, in the case of a "Mashkon of Sura," i.e. when the two parties specifically stipulate that when the years of the Mashkon terminate, the field will go back to the debtor and the debt is settled [giving the appearance that the produce has been sold -- see also TOSFOS to Bava Metzia 67b DH 'be'Mishlam'].

36) [line 34] V'HU OCHEL PEIROS - and the Malveh (the creditor) eats the produce

37) [last line] NAFLU LAH GEFANIM V'ZEISIM ZEKENIM - old grapevines or olive trees fell to her as an inheritance

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