Bava Batra 22a — the Talmud in English

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: And Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, concedes with regard to perfume sellers who go around in the towns, that one cannot prevent them.

These are perfume sellers who sell fragrances to women to adorn themselves with, and it is their practice to go from place to place to sell their merchandise; it is impossible to prevent them from selling here.

For the Master said: Ezra instituted for Israel that perfume sellers should go around in the towns, so that ornaments should be available to the daughters of Israel.

And since it is Ezra’s enactment, it is impossible to prevent them.

And this matter applies to going around. But to establish themselves, no.

The law that one cannot prevent them applies specifically to perfume sellers who go around through the passageways and houses to sell their merchandise and afterward return to their places; but if they come to establish their place in this town to sell their merchandise, one may prevent them.

And if he is a talmid chacham, even to establish himself as well,

if the perfume seller is a Torah scholar, he is also permitted to establish his place in the town until he sells his merchandise, because he is occupied with his learning and it is not his practice to go around from place to place; therefore, they also permitted him to establish his place.

As in that incident involving Rava, who permitted Rabbi Yashya and Rav Ovadya to establish themselves, not in accordance with the halakha,

as we find that Rava permitted Rabbi Yashya and Rav Ovadya to establish their place in the town, even though this was not according to the law, since Ezra permitted only going around in the towns and not establishing oneself; nevertheless, Rava permitted it as a measure beyond the letter of the law.

What is the reason

for his having permitted it?

Since they are Torah scholars, they would come to be distracted from their learning.

Since they are Torah scholars, if they had to go around in the towns, they would be distracted from their learning.

There were these basket sellers

who sold baskets, and some say sellers of cauldrons,

who brought baskets to Babylonia,

who brought their baskets or their cauldrons to Babylonia to sell,

the townspeople came and sought to prevent them,

the townspeople came and wished to prevent them,

they came before Ravina,

they came before Ravina so that he would rule for them.

He said to them: They came from elsewhere, and they should sell to those from elsewhere,

there was a market day there, on which people from other places gathered to buy in the market, and Ravina said: Since they came from other places, they may sell to people who came from other places here.

And this matter applies on a market day; but when it is not a market day, no.

This applies specifically on a market day, but not on a day that is not a market day.

And even on a market day we say this only with regard to selling in the market. But to go around, no.

Even on a market day, they were permitted only to sell in the market, where there are people from other places, but not to go around in the houses of the town.

There were these wool sellers

who sold wool,

who brought wool to Pum Nahara,

who brought wool to sell in a place called Pum Nahara,

the townspeople came and sought to prevent them,

the townspeople came to prevent them,

they came before Rav Kahana

they came before Rav Kahana.

He said to them: It is the law that they may prevent you,

he said to them that the law is that they may prevent them.

They said to him: We have credit

in the town.

They said to Rav Kahana: We sold on credit in this town, and we need to remain in the town until we collect our debts; and if we do not sell our merchandise in the meantime, from what shall we support ourselves?

He said to them: Go and sell enough for your livelihood until you remove your credit, and then go.

He told them to sell enough for what they need for their sustenance until they finish collecting their debts, and when they finish collecting them, they should go to their place.

Rav Dimi of Nehardea brought dried figs on a ship,

he brought dried figs on a ship in order to sell them in the market.

The Exilarch said to Rava: Go out and see,

go and examine Rav Dimi,

if he is a talmid chacham,

if he is a Torah scholar,

he is,

then,

arrange the market for him,

announce that no one in the town should sell dried figs before he finishes selling his merchandise.

Rava said to Rav Adda bar Abba: Go out and smell him in his flask,

go and smell his flask, whether it is wine or vinegar. He used the language of a parable, meaning that he should examine him with questions to see whether he was a Torah scholar.

He went out

and went

. He asked him: An elephant that swallowed an Egyptian basket and expelled it through its excrement, what is the law?

Rav Adda went out and went, and asked him what the law is with regard to the impurity of vessels if it happened that an elephant swallowed an “Egyptian basket,” which is a basket woven from willow branches, and the basket emerged intact through its excrement. Is this vessel considered to have been “digested” in the elephant’s stomach, so that its law now is the law of a vessel of dung, which does not contract impurity? Or is it not considered digested, but rather considered as it was previously, and does contract impurity?

He did not have it in hand,

Rav Dimi did not know how to answer him.

He said to him,

Rav Dimi asked Rav Adda:

Is the Master Rava!?

Is the Master Rava [who was famous as the great one in this town]?

He tapped him with his sandal,

Rav Adda struck Rav Dimi on his sandal in jest, as one strikes someone unimportant, and said to him:

Between me and Rava, there is much.

There is a great difference between me and Rava.

Nevertheless, against your will, I am your teacher, and Rava

is

the teacher of your teacher.

I am your teacher, since I know more Torah than you do, and Rava is my teacher. It follows that Rava is the teacher of your teacher.

They did not arrange the market for him. His dried figs were lost.

They did not establish the market for him, announcing that no one should sell dried figs except him, and they did not buy from him, and his dried figs were lost.

He came before Rav Yosef and said to him: See, Master, what they have done to me!

Rav Dimi came to Rav Yosef and complained to him about what they had done to him.

He said to him

Rav Yosef

: One who did not refrain from exacting payment for the affront to the king of Edom, we shall not refrain from exacting payment for your affront.

One who did not refrain from taking retribution for the disgrace done to the king of Edom, even though he was an Edomite gentile, all the more so He will not refrain from taking retribution from one who caused you distress! And where do we find that the Holy One, blessed be He, took retribution for the disgrace done to the king of Edom?

As it is written: “Thus said the Lord: For three transgressions of Moab, and for four I will not revoke it, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.”

And it is demonstrated from here that the Lord punished Moab for burning the bones of the king of Edom into lime.

Rav Adda bar Abba died.

Rav Adda died.

And the amoraim disputed which of them caused Rav Dimi to be punished with death.

Rav Yosef said: I punished him, for I cursed him.

Rav Yosef was distressed that Rav Adda had been punished because of him, since he had cursed him, and Rav Yosef attributed his death to his curse.

Rav Dimi of Nehardea said: I punished him, for he caused my dried figs to be lost.

Rav Dimi feared that he had been punished because of him, since he had taken offense against him because he caused the loss of his dried figs.

Abaye said: I punished him.

For he would say to the Sages: While you are breaking bones in Abaye’s house, eat meat

that is fat

in Rava’s house.

Abaye feared that he had been punished because of him, since Rav Adda was accustomed to say to the students: While you are breaking bones in order to eat the marrow inside them in Abaye’s house, it is better for you to eat fatty meat in Rava’s house. This is an expression of a parable, and the intention is that at Abaye’s place the halakhot are not clear, and great effort is needed to understand them, whereas at Rava’s place the matters are clear and illuminating. Abaye had taken offense at him for saying these things. Therefore, Abaye feared that Rav Adda had died because of him.

And Rava said: I punished him.

For when he would go to the slaughterhouse to take a portion of meat

when Rava would go to the slaughterer to buy meat,

he would say to the slaughterers: I will take meat before Rava’s attendant takes it for him, for I am superior to him!

He would say to the slaughterers [the butchers, the sellers of meat] to bring him meat before Rava’s servant took it for him, because he was greater than Rava. Rava had taken offense at him for this; therefore, Rava feared that he had died because of him.

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: I punished him.

For Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak was the head of the kalla,

the head of the scholars who gathered on the Sabbaths before the festivals to study, and he would expound for them.

Every day, before he entered the kalla, he would review the teaching with Rav Adda bar Abba, and afterward he would enter the kalla.

Every day, before he entered to expound publicly, he would review the teaching [the sugya] together with Rav Adda, and afterward he would enter to expound.

On that day, Rav Pappa and Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, seized Rav Adda bar Abba because they had not been at the conclusion,

on that day Rav Pappa and Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, detained Rav Adda because they had not been present at the conclusion of Rava’s exposition, which he had delivered concerning the tithe of cattle.

They said to him: Tell us these teachings of the tithe of cattle, how did Rava state them,

they said to Rav Adda that he should tell them the teachings of the tithe of cattle, how Rava had stated them.

He said to them: This is what Rava said, and this is what Rava said,

he said to them: This is what Rava said, and this is what Rava said.

Meanwhile, it became late for Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak,

in the meantime, the time became late for Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak, and he could not expound, since he had not reviewed the matters together with Rav Adda.

The Sages said to Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak: Arise, for it has become late for us; why is the Master sitting,

the students of the academy who had come to hear said to Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak that he should arise and expound for them, since it was already late, and why was he sitting and not expounding?

He said to them: I am sitting and waiting for Rav Adda bar Abba’s bier!

He said to them: I am sitting and waiting for Rav Adda’s bier to be brought here, for he has died.

Meanwhile, a voice went out that Rav Adda bar Abba had died.

In the meantime, word went out that Rav Adda bar Abba had died.

And the Gemara concludes:

And it is reasonable that Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak punished him.

It is reasonable that the principal reason he died was because of Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak, who explicitly said that he was waiting for his bier, meaning that he would die, unlike the others, who did not say that he should die.

Mishna:

With regard to one whose wall was adjacent to his fellow’s wall, he may not place another wall alongside it unless he distances it four cubits from it.

According to the initial supposition in the Gemara, the meaning of the Mishna is: One whose wall was initially adjacent to his fellow’s wall within four cubits, and it fell, and he now wishes to build it again, may not build it adjacent to his fellow’s wall; rather, he must distance it four cubits.

The windows: whether above, whether below, whether opposite them, four cubits.

If one had windows opening onto his fellow’s courtyard, and this had been established for three years, and the owner of the courtyard came to build a wall there beside the windows: If he comes to raise the wall above the windows, he must raise it no less than four cubits, so that if he leans against the wall he will not be able to look through the windows into his fellow’s domain. And if he comes to lower the wall below the windows, he must lower it no less than four cubits, so that if he stands on the top of the thickness of the wall he will not be able to look through the windows into his fellow’s domain. And in every case, he must also distance the wall four cubits opposite the window, so that it will not darken it.

Gemara:

And the Gemara raises an objection against the first clause of the Mishna, according to the explanation presented above:

And the first one, how did he place it adjacent!?

How did he place the first wall within four cubits before it fell? And if it is speaking of a case in which he gave him permission regarding the first one, it is still difficult: Why did the tanna speak of this case? After all, the tanna came to teach us the very law that one must distance it four cubits?

The Gemara answers:

Rav Yehuda said: This is what he is saying: