Bava Batra 5a — the Talmud in English

The owner of a field named

Runya, surrounded him,

surrounded

Ravina,

who had four fields around his field, with a fence,

on its four sides.

He said to him

Ravina, who had surrounded Runya, who was surrounded:

Give me what I spent on fencing,

give me half the expenses of what I fenced! And in accordance with the words of Rav Huna above, according to the opinion of Rabbi Yosei of the Mishna, that everything is according to what he fenced. For such is the halakha.

He did not give him.

Runya did not give Ravina his share of the fencing expenses, because he claimed that he had no need for a fence to protect his field.

Ravina returned and requested:

Give

me, give me at least,

according to

the price of

cheap reeds.

And this too,

he did not give him.

Ravina again requested:

Give me the wage of guarding,

give me at least the wage of guarding that you saved—the sum that it would have cost you to station a guard at your field had I not made the fence.

He did not give him.

One day,

one day,

he was fencing palm trees,

Runya was fencing, gathering dates from the palm in his field.

He said to him

Ravina

to his tenant,

to his tenant:

Go

you,

take from him,

and take from Runya’s dates

an unripe cluster of dates,

a cluster of dates that had not ripened!

And in Runya’s presence Ravina commanded his tenant concerning this.

He went to bring it,

Ravina’s tenant went to bring the cluster of dates from Runya’s date palms.

He raised his voice against him,

Runya raised his voice against him. He rebuked him.

He said to him

Ravina said to Runya: Since you shouted at my tenant, by this

you have revealed your opinion that you are content,

that you are content with the guarding of the palm trees, so that people should not take their fruit, because they are important in your eyes.

And therefore, even if you are not afraid of thieves, as you claimed in order to exempt yourself from paying, you are still obligated to pay your share of the fence, because you benefit from it, for

even if it is only

because of

ordinary goats,

because of the goats that wander in the area, so that they should not enter to eat dates,

does one not need guarding,

and do you not need a fence around your field to protect the dates from the goats eating them?!

He said to him

Runya:

Ordinary goats, to drive them away

is needed!

Ordinary goats need to be prevented by a rebuke. That is, a rebuke is sufficient to drive them away!

He said to him

Ravina:

And does one not need a man!?

Do you not need a guarding man

to drive them away

who will rebuke them? And if so, I saved you this guard, so give me his wage!

He came before

Runya came before

Rava,

and asked what his law was.

He said to him

Rava:

Go appease him with that with which he was appeased.

Go appease Ravina with what he has already been appeased by, to receive only the wage of the guard, for this is preferable for you to paying him a share of the cost of the fence.

And if not,

if you do not do so,

I shall judge you in judgment,

I shall judge you in court,

according to Rav Huna in accordance with Rabbi Yosei,

who holds that everything is according to what he fenced, and then

you will have to pay half the expenses of the fence, since such is the halakha.

Another incident involving Runya and Ravina:

Runya bought land,

he bought a field of land

on Ravina’s boundary,

on the boundary of Ravina’s field .

Ravina considered removing him,

removing him by giving him the sum that he had paid for the field

because of the law of the adjacent-field owner,

the law of the adjacent-field owner .

Rav Safra son of Rav Yeiva said to him

the son of Rav Yeiva

to Ravina:

Do what is upright and good in the eyes of the Lord and do not remove him, for Runya is a poor shoemaker. For he purchases hides and gives them to a tanner to process them, and afterwards makes shoes from them to sell in the market. And

people say,

the people say:

four

zuz

for a shoemaker, four

zuz—

for the leather worker,

that is, the shoemaker pays four zuz for the hide itself, and he pays an additional four zuz to the leather processor. If so, his profit is extremely small. Therefore, do what is upright and good with him and leave him the field for his livelihood.

Mishna:

A wall

that is in the middle of

the courtyard

of partners

that fell, they obligate him

each one of them, who harms his fellow through seeing,

to build it

with his fellow

up to

the height of

four cubits.

For this is sufficient to remove the harm of seeing. And they cannot compel him to build more than this, even though at first it had been higher.

And once they built it, each one of them has the presumption that he paid his share, for both of them are obligated to remove their harm of seeing. And if one of them claims that he built it alone from his own funds, and his fellow did not wish to assist him, he is not believed, since once his fellow is obligated to participate with him, he is

presumed to have paid

his share

until he brings

the claimant

p

roof through witnesses

t

hat he demanded it of him

and he did not give

it to him.

However, if one built the wall

from four cubits and above, they do not obligate him

to make his fellow participate. But only if, after the first one had raised it,

the second leaned against it

the second

another wall

opposite it, in order to place a ceiling upon them, from wall to wall.

Even though he did not yet place upon it

the ceiling,

they impose upon him the entire amount.

For he revealed his opinion that he is content with his fellow’s raising of it.

If he brought his fellow to court after he leaned another wall against his wall, and said to him: Give me your share of what I raised. And this one says: I gave my share, he is not believed. Rather, he is

presumed not to have paid, until he brings proof

through witnesses

that he paid.

For since his obligation to pay is not known and publicized to everyone, he is not likely to pay until he is sued in court.

Gemara:

Reish Lakish said:

A lender

who fixed a time for his fellow

the borrower, to repay his debt to him, and when the time arrived he demanded that he pay,

and he said to him

the borrower:

I repaid you within your time, he is not believed!

For it is presumed that a person is not likely to pay before the repayment time,

and let him at least repay at its time.

Abaye and Rava

disagreed with Reish Lakish,

for both of them say,

they both say:

A person is accustomed

a person is accustomed

to repay within his time,

to repay within his time. And the reason is:

sometimes,

at times,

money happens to come to him,

money becomes available to him. And then

he said

in his heart:

I shall go repay him,

I shall go and repay him to my creditor—