Bava Batra 73a — the Talmud in English

And the Gemara asks:

Let us say

Resh Lakish: we have come to

the dispute between Rabbi Shimon and the Rabbis!

And it answers:

This teaches us

Resh Lakish,

that Rabbi Menahem son of Rabbi Yosei holds like Rabbi Shimon.

We shall return to you, chapter “The One Who Sells the House.”

Mishna:

A person

who sells the ship,

and did not state explicitly what is included in the ship being sold, then presumably he

sold

also

the mast

of the ship,

and

likewise sold

the banner

[the sail] of the ship,

and

likewise

the anchors

[an anchor],

and all that direct it,

the ship. And in the Gemara it explains what the “directors of the ship” are.

All those that were mentioned are included, presumably, in the sale of the ship, since they are the essence of the ship. Therefore, as long as the seller did not state explicitly: “I am not selling these things,” they are included in the sale of the ship.

But he did not sell

to him, presumably,

neither the slaves,

that the owner of the ship has in order to direct it and guard the merchandise within it,

nor the packs

[large sacks in which they place the merchandise of the ship ],

nor the antiki

[the merchandise transported in the ship ].

And

all this is when he sold him a ship without specification, but

when he said to him

the seller: “I hereby sell you

it,

the ship,

and everything within it, then all of them are sold.”

Between the mast, the banner, the anchor, and the directors, which are sold even presumptively, and the slaves and the packs: since he said that he was selling him everything that is within it, even the merchandise that is found in it at that time is sold with it.

Gemara:

The Gemara explains the words of the Mishna, in the language of the Gemara:

a. “

Mast”

that we learned in the Mishna is

iskarya

in Aramaic, upon which they spread the sail at the top of the ship.

And

the Gemara brings proof that “mast” is “iskarya,” upon which they hang the sail:

for so it says,

[Ezekiel 27:5 ]:

“They took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you,”

and it is known to us that they make an “iskarya” from cedar or from a tall tree, so that the sail will be high and will be able to propel the ship properly through the sea winds. If so, learn from it: “mast” means “iskarya.”

b. “

Banner”

that we learned in the Mishna is

adra

in Aramaic [a sail].

And

the Gemara brings proof that “banner” is “adra” — a sail:

for so it says

[there, verse 7]:

“Fine linen embroidered from Egypt was your sail, to be for you as a banner.”

c. “

Anchors”

that we learned in the Mishna,

Rabbi Hiyya taught

in a beraita:

these

are its anchors

[a heavy iron implement cast into the water in order to hold the ship in one place].

And the Gemara brings proof that the meaning of anchor is restraint, and this is the anchor that restrains the ship’s movement:

And so it says

[Ruth 1:12–13]: “Return, my daughters, go, for I have grown old, from being with a man; for I said: I have hope; even if I were with a man tonight, and I also bore sons.

Would you wait

[look forward]

until they grew? Would you be restrained

[held back until they grew],

from being with a man.”

It follows that igon is an expression of restraint. We learned in the Mishna: “One who sells the ship has sold the mast ... and all the

directors

of it.”

He said

[he explained],

Rabbi Abba: These are its oars,

for the oars too are among the principal uses of the ship.

And the Gemara brings proof that indeed the oars are among the principal uses of the ship:

And so

when the prophet Ezekiel prophesied concerning the destruction of Tyre and compared it to a ship, he lists there the uses and implements of the ship.

And there

it says: “They made your oars from oaks of Bashan.”

If so, it is reasonable that “all that direct it” in our Mishna comes to include the oars.

And if you wish, say:

one may learn that the oars are the essence of the ship

from here

[there, verse 29]: “

And they shall descend from their ships,

[when the “ship of Tyre” sinks]

all who grasp the oar.”

The Sages taught:

A person

who sells the ship,

sells

with it

the iskala

[the ship’s gangplank] by which one goes up to the ship and descends from it,

and the water-pit within it,

for since the sea waters are salty, they would prepare in the ship something like a pit and put “sweet” water there for drinking.

Rabbi Natan says: One who sells the ship sells

with it even

the little boat,

a small ship that they tie to a large ship. When they wish to go onto dry land, they enter from the large ship into the small one and come to shore with the small one, since the large ship cannot approach the seashore because of its depth.

Sumakhos says: One who sells the ship sells

with it even

the dugit.

He said

[he explained]

Rava:

Rabbi Natan and Sumakhos did not disagree with one another, and the “ and

little boat”

that Rabbi Natan said

is the “dugit”

that Sumakhos said.

Rabbi Natan was a Babylonian,

he called it,

the small ship,

“buzit,” as people say,

[in the language of people], who call the small ships on the river of Maysan, which is not deep and in which only small ships travel:

the buzeyata of Maysan.

Sumakhos, a man of the Land of Israel,

was,

he called it “dugit,”

and

as

we find in the language of Scripture,

as it is written

[Amos 4:2]:

“And your remnant in fishing boats.”

Introduction to the aggadic accounts of the sayings of Rabbah bar bar Hana:

The Rashbam wrote: All the deeds brought in the Gemara below were brought in order to teach us the greatness of the deeds of God, as it is written [Psalms 104:24]: “How great are Your works, O God.” And some of them are to make known the reward of the righteous in the future, or to explain verses stated in the Book of Job that speak of enormous birds, beasts, and great fish.

The Maharsha added: Although in truth one cannot deny the plain meaning of the matters, as it is written [Psalms 107:23–26]: “Those who go down to the sea in ships, who perform labor in mighty waters. They saw the works of God and His wonders in the deep. He spoke, and He raised a storm wind, and it lifted up its waves. They rose to the heavens, they descended to the depths”; nevertheless, there is something behind these matters.

That is, certainly the matters do not depart from their plain meaning, and nevertheless the Sages intended in these aggadot to hint at profound matters, as the Maharsha and the great commentators explained.

And the Ritva wrote: In the stories of this chapter there are matters strange to people, because they are not accustomed to them, but they are matters very close to those who know their nature — such as the size of the fish in the sea and the size of the storm of the sea waves. And there are also matters hinted at in these stories that were not seen by them with the sight of the eye, but in the appearance of a dream. This was when the Sages traveled on the Ocean Sea and saw there the wonders of the Blessed Name, and also when they were there in seclusion and contemplated awesome and wondrous matters. And the Geonim wrote that wherever we say here, “I myself saw,” it was in a dream-vision, when he was traveling on the Ocean Sea.

Two accounts of what sailors told Rabbah bar bar Hana:

a.

Rabbah said: They told

[related]

me, the sailors

[those who go down to the sea]:

This wave that is about to sink

[wishes to sink]

the ship appears like a tuft

[sparks ]

of pale fire at its top.

Before that wave which comes to sink the ship, a harmful angel goes, appearing like sparks of white fire.

And we strike it with clubs

[clubs, sticks]

upon which is engraved: “I shall be what I shall be, Yah, the Lord of Hosts, amen amen forever.”

And it comes to rest,

the wave from its fury.

They strike it with sticks upon which is engraved: “I shall be what I shall be, Yah, the Lord of Hosts, amen amen forever,” and then the wave calms from its fury and does not sink the ship. b.

Rabbah said:

The sailors told me:

Between one wave and another, three hundred parasangs, and its height

height

of the wave was three hundred parasangs.

Between one wave and another there are three hundred parasangs,

and likewise the height of a wave.

Once, we were traveling on the road

by sea,

and it raised us

it lifted us

the wave, until we saw the dwelling-place of the small star

its place of dwelling

and it appeared to me like a field

like a field for sowing

of forty kor

a kor

of mustard seed; and if it had lifted us

the wave

higher, we would have been burned by its vapor.

Once, we were traveling on the road by sea, and the wave lifted us until we could see the dwelling-place of one of the smallest stars, and it appeared to me that its area was like the area for sowing forty kor of mustard—these being small grains; therefore, the area for sowing a kor of mustard is greater than the area for sowing a kor of wheat—and if the wave had lifted us higher, we would have been burned by the vapor and heat of the star . Since this wave reached so high, its companion, who stood behind it on the side of the sea, thought that it had gone beyond the shore of the sea and washed away the world.

And one wave called out to the other wave:

“My companion, have you left anything in the world that I have not washed away, so that I may come and destroy it?”

He cried out to it the wave behind it: “My companion, have you left something in the world that you have not yet washed away, so that I can wash it away and destroy it, because of the sin of the generation?

He said to it: Go and see the might of your Master,

for even

as much as the breadth of a thread of sand, it does not pass.

The first wave said to its companion: “Go and learn from here the might of your Master, Creator of worlds: despite my height and the flood of my waters, I cannot pass over the sand of the sea, even by the breadth of a thread” .

As it is stated

[Jeremiah 5:22]:

“Will you not fear Me, says the Lord, and will you not tremble before Me, Who have placed sand as a boundary for the sea, an eternal decree, and it shall not pass beyond it

and they rage but cannot prevail, and its waves roar but cannot pass beyond it.”

The Gemara now brings three statements concerning what Rabbah bar bar Chana saw: creatures distinguished by their strength and size:

a.

Rabbah said:

I myself saw

Hormin, son of Lilith

the name of a demon

when he was running on the teeth of the wall

on the crenellations of the wall

of Mechoza, while a horseman was running as he rode an animal beneath him, and he could not catch him.

I saw the demon called Hormin, son of Lilith, running on the wall of the city of Nehardea, while a horseman riding an animal in his ordinary manner was beneath the wall—near the wall on the ground—and the demon was unable to catch the horseman and harm him, since the horseman galloped swiftly.