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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON GEMARA AND RASHI

prepared by Rabbi Eliezer Chrysler
Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Jerusalem

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Bava Metzia 116

BAVA METZIA 116-117 - anonymously dedicated by an Ohev Torah and Marbitz Torah in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel.

1)

(a) The Tana of one Beraisa rules 'Chaval Zug shel Saparim ve'Tzemed shel Paros, Chayav Shetayim'.
What does he say in a case of 'Zeh bi'F'nei Atzmo, ve'Zeh bi'F'nei Atzmo'?

(b) What constitutes the two La'avin by ...

  1. ... a Zug shel Saparim? What is a Zug shel Saparim?
  2. ... a Tzemed shel Paros?
(c) Why does this Beraisa on its own not substantiate the opinion of Rav Yehudah (who learns that 'Rechayim va'Rechev' incorporates only two La'avin and not three)?
2)
(a) A second Beraisa compares every case of two vessels which are used in conjunction with each other to Rechayim va'Rachev.
What does this prove?

(b) Why do we then need the first Beraisa? Why can we not substantiate Rav Yehudah's opinion from this Beraisa alone?

3)
(a) In a case where the creditor took a butcher's knife as a Mashkon, why did Abaye instruct him to return it?

(b) He also instructed him to claim his debt in Beis-Din.
What would have happened had the debtor denied the claim?

(c) On what basis did Rava object to Abaye's ruling? What did Rava then hold?

(d) What did Shmuel's father rule in a case where goats ate Reuven's peeled barley, and Reuven subsequently seized the goats and claimed them as payment for his barley?

4)
(a) Why did Abaye rule differently in the current case, than Avuhah di'Shmuel? In what way did he consider a butcher's knife different?

(b) And what did Rava rule in a similar case, where the owner claimed that he had lent a pair of wool-cutting shears and Sifrei Agadah to the father of the Yesomim who now had them in their possession?

(c) How does this prove that 'Laku'ach Hu be'Yadi' is not believed by things that one tends to lend or hire out? Perhaps the owner is believed here, because the Yesomim are simply not conversant with their deceased father's affairs?

(d) Then on what grounds did Rava disagree with Abaye's ruling? Why did he authorise the creditor to keep the butcher's knife up to the amount of the claim?

***** Hadran Alach, ha'Mekabel Sadeh me'Chavero *****

Answers to questions

116b---------------------------------------116b

***** Perek ha'Bayis ve'ha'Aliyah *****

5)

(a) What does our Mishnah say about a two-storey building belonging to two brothers, one of whom had taken the upper floor (the attic), and the other, the lower one, that collapsed (and neither recognizes which bricks are his)?
What happens to the bricks, the wood and the dust of the building?

(b) If some of the bricks are broken, and each one claims that the whole bricks belong to him, how does the Tana gauge whether his claim is valid or not?

(c) What does the Tana finally say when one of them recognizes some of the bricks?

6)
(a) Now that we see from the Seifa that one gauges the bricks by the way the building fell, why does the Reisha rule 'Yachloku'.
Why do we not use the same gauge?

(b) Why can they not check the bricks in the morning (as we explained earlier)?

(c) So let them ask the person who cleared them (and put them in a pile)?

(d) Why do we not simply ascertain in whose Reshus the house was built, and require the other one to prove that the whole bricks are his (based on the principle 'ha'Motzi me'Chaveiro Alav ha'Re'ayah')?

7) What do we mean when we answer alternatively that in such a case, partners are not particular? How does that answer the Kashya?

8)

(a) When the Tana concludes that if one of them recognizes some of the bricks, he takes them, why can he not be speaking when the other one ...
  1. ... concedes that?
  2. ... denies it, and claims that he is the rightful owner?
(b) Then how does the Tana speak?
9)
(a) Rav Huna and Rav Yehudah rule that if Reuven claims a Manah from Shimon, and Shimon replies 'Eini Yodei'a, he is Chayav to pay.
Why is that?

(b) Rav Nachman and Rebbi Yochanan say 'Patur' (because of the principle 'ha'Motzi me'Chaveiro ... ').
How do we know that he really doesn't know?

(c) We just established that according to the Tana of our Mishnah, Reuven takes the bricks that he recognizes if Shimon counters that he does not know.
How will Rav Nachman establish this Mishnah in order not to clash with the Tana?

(d) What is then case in our Mishnah?

(e) On what grounds does Reuven take all the bricks?

10)
(a) Rava thought that Shimon takes the equivalent number of broken bricks as the whole bricks that Reuven recognizes (seeing as he doesn't deny Shimon's claim).
On what grounds does Abaye object to that?

(b) Does this mean that Shimon takes the rest of the bricks?

(c) If Shimon takes an equal number of whole bricks as Reuven, then what advantage does Reuven have by having recognized his bricks?

11)
(a) What does our Mishnah say about Reuven who rents an attic, if the ceiling (which also serves as the roof) of the attic breaks and Shimon, who lives on the ground floor, refuses to repair it?

(b) What does Rebbi Yossi say?

(c) Rav establishes our Mishnah when the majority of the ceiling broke.
What does Shmuel say?

(d) What is the basis of their Machlokes?

12)
(a) Why can the Tana of our Mishnah not be speaking when Reuven rented Shimon...
  1. ... 'this attic'?
  2. ... 'an attic'?
(b) If he specifically stipulated that should the attic become uninhabitable, he will be permitted to share the house with him, the Tana will not be teaching us anything either.
So how does Rav Ashi finally establish the Mishnah? What *did* Reuven say?

(c) What is then the Chidush?

(d) In a parallel case, one man sold another 'a vine-arbor on top of this peach-tree', and the peach-tree became uprooted.
What did Ravin bar Rav Ada Amar Rebbi Yitzchak quote Rebbi Chiya as having ruled?

Answers to questions

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