Bava Batra 76a — the Talmud in English

And the Gemara discusses the words of the beraita:

“letters”

about which Rabbi Natan spoke:

Who mentioned their name?

Who mentioned them at the outset!? For the first tanna spoke only about a ship, and did not mention at all the law of the “letters”; if so, why did Rabbi Natan, who came to dispute the first tanna, also mention the law of the “letters”!?

Rather, necessarily

something is missing

from the wording of the beraita,

and this is what it teaches:

A ship is acquired through pulling, and “letters”

are acquired

through delivery.

Rabbi Natan says: A ship and “letters” are acquired through pulling and through a document.

!?

And the Gemara assumed that Rabbi Natan said as follows: Both a ship and “letters” are acquired only through two acts of acquisition—both pulling and a document.

And concerning this the Gemara wondered:

Why do I need a document for a ship!?

For the ship

is movable property,

and as soon as he pulled it, it is acquired by him, according to the law of all movable property that is acquired through pulling alone; and for what purpose did Rabbi Natan also require a document in order to acquire the ship!?

And from this difficulty the Gemara proves:

Rather, is it not

necessarily

this is what it teaches: A ship is acquired through pulling, and “letters”

are acquired

through delivery,

according to the first tanna.

Rabbi Natan says: A ship

is acquired

through pulling, and “letters”

are not acquired through delivery alone, as the first tanna says, but through delivery and

through a document,

he must deliver to him the loan document, and also give him a “bill of sale” for the debt document.

And now, after the Gemara explains the words of the first tanna and Rabbi Natan, it returns to its earlier statement, “Shall we say like these tannaim”:

For there is a difficulty in the words of the beraita: Rabbi Natan came to dispute the first tanna, so how did Rabbi Natan say that a

ship

is acquired

through pulling,

when

that is the first tanna!?

For the first tanna also said that a ship is acquired through pulling; in what, then, did the tannaim dispute!?

Rather,

necessarily,

Rav and Shmuel are the point of difference between them.

That is, everyone agrees that a ship is acquired through pulling, and the dispute between the tannaim concerns how much the ship must be pulled in order to acquire it.

The first tanna holds like Shmuel: In order to acquire the ship through pulling, he must pull all of it—to uproot it completely from its original place.

And Rabbi Natan holds like Rav: It is sufficient to pull the ship any amount.

And we reject this:

No,

Rabbi Natan and the Sages did not dispute in the dispute between Rav and Shmuel. Rather,

everyone—

both Rabbi Natan and the Sages—agree concerning this matter, but we have no clarification of the matter,

whether

everyone holds

like Rav, or whether

everyone holds

like Shmuel.

.

And concerning the ship

mentioned in the beraita,

everyone does not dispute

in any respect.

Rather,

when they dispute

is concerning the Sages and Rabbi Natan,

with regard to letters

is what they dispute.

And this is what Rabbi Natan said to the first tanna: With regard to a ship, I certainly agree with you

that a ship is acquired through pulling.

But

with regard to “letters”

I do not agree with you, in that you, the first tanna, hold that “letters” are acquired through delivery without a document. For in my view, only

if there is a document

in addition to the delivery,

not

then indeed the “letters” are acquired by him; but

if not

he wrote him a document concerning this—

he did not

acquire the “letters.”

And the Gemara says:

And it is the dispute of these tannaim,

the dispute between the Sages and Rabbi Natan concerning the sale of documents is precisely the dispute between Rabbi and the Sages in the beraita below.

For it was taught

in a beraita:

“Letters” are acquired through delivery,

and it is unnecessary to add and write for him a “bill of sale” concerning this,

the words of Rabbi.

And the Sages say:

“Letters” are acquired only through delivery and through a document.

But regardless,

whether

if he

wrote

him a “bill of sale”

but did not deliver

the debt document into his hand,

or whether

if he

delivered

the debt document to him in his hand

but did not write

him a “bill of sale” concerning this,

he did not acquire it until he writes

him a bill of sale concerning this

and delivers

the debt document itself into his hand.

And it follows that Rabbi Natan’s words in the earlier beraita are the words of the Sages in the beraita here, who said: “Letters” are acquired only through delivery and through a document.

And Rabbi’s words in the beraita here are the words of the Sages in the earlier beraita, who said: “Letters” are acquired through delivery, and it is unnecessary also to write a bill of sale concerning the matter.

But the Gemara was astonished:

On what did you establish this,

by what did you establish the words of the Sages in the first beraita, for

as

the words of

Rabbi

you established them, who says: “Letters are acquired through delivery without a deed”; and if so, why did we learn in this beraita that a ship is acquired through pulling and letters through delivery, which implies that a ship is not acquired through delivery? But according to Rabbi,

a ship too should be acquired through delivery,

and not only letters. And why is pulling needed in order to acquire the ship!?

As it was taught,

for we learned in a beraita:

A ship is acquired through delivery, the words of Rabbi.