Bava Batra 86b (פו:) — the Talmud in English

Come and hear

from our Mishna, for we learned in it:

If one sells produce to another, and the buyer pulled it but did not measure it, he acquires it.

But produce, which

are light objects and

can be lifted, and yet it teaches that he acquires it by pulling—

this is difficult for the one who says: Objects whose usual method of acquisition is lifting are not acquired by pulling!

And we answer:

Here we are dealing with large bundles,

large loads of produce that are difficult to lift, and therefore the buyer acquires them by pulling. But with a light object that can be lifted, pulling is ineffective.

We raise an objection:

If so,

say the latter clause: If one purchases flax from another,

he

does not acquire it until he moves it from this place to another place,

that is, until he lifts it.

But according to your explanation, what is the difference between produce and flax!?

Is that so,

that

with regard to flax in large bundles, do people not make them—

is it not customary for people to tie flax in large bundles!?

And if the latter clause, with regard to flax, is speaking of large bundles, as in the first clause, why is pulling not sufficient? And if it is speaking of small bundles of flax, then presumably the first clause, with regard to produce, is also speaking of small bundles; and how is pulling effective for them!?

And we answer: The latter clause cannot be compared to the first clause! Indeed, in the first clause, with regard to produce, we are dealing with a large bundle that is difficult to lift; therefore the buyer acquires it by pulling. But in the latter clause, with regard to flax, we are dealing with small bundles, because

flax

differs from other produce,

as

it

slips away,

sliding immediately from the hands of the person carrying it, and therefore large bundles cannot be made from it. Consequently, bundles of flax are acquired only by lifting and not by pulling.

Ravina said to Rav Ashi: Come and hear

from a Mishna in tractate Kiddushin [25b], for we learned:

A large domesticated animal is acquired by למסירה,

and it is not necessary to lift it.

And

a

small domesticated animal

is acquired

by lifting,

and not by למסירה; these are

the words of Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar.

But the Sages say: A small domesticated animal

is acquired

by pulling.

But a small domesticated animal is an object that is subject to lifting,

since it is light in weight,

and it teaches that it is acquired by pulling

according to the Sages!?

And we answer:

An animal

differs from other movable objects because

it clings,

becoming entangled with and attached by its feet to the ground, and it is possible to lift it only with difficulty, and therefore the usual way to acquire it is by pulling. But other movable objects that are light in weight are acquired by lifting and not by pulling.

This sugya was also brought here because the Gemara wished to prove the law from the beraita of the four measures applicable to sellers.

Rav and Shmuel both said

the following law. One who says to another:

A kor,

thirty se’a of grain,

for thirty

sela,

I am selling to you,

and they began measuring the grain,

can retract

as long as they have not measured an entire kor for him, and

even

when they are engaged

in

measuring the

last se’a—

he has acquired nothing at all and may retract from the entire transaction. But if he said to him:

A kor

of grain

for thirty

sela, each

se’a

and se’a

for one sela I am selling to you—each se’a of grain is considered a transaction in its own right. Therefore,

the first one acquired, the first one acquired.

he acquires the first one first.

Each se’a that was measured is acquired by the buyer, and he can no longer retract from the transaction concerning that se’a.

Come and hear

from the beraita of the four measures, which indicates that the buyer acquires the produce even before the measure is filled and may not retract:

If the measure belonged to one of them,

for example, to the buyer—

the first one first

that entered the measure

he acquires

immediately, even though the measure has not been filled.

The Gemara assumed that this beraita is speaking of a seller who sold him a specified quantity of grain, and that the buyer acquires each small amount immediately upon its entering the measure.

This poses a difficulty to Rav and Shmuel, who said that the transaction does not take effect until he measures the entire quantity being sold!?

And we answer: Here we are dealing with a case

such as where he said to him—the seller said:

the

hin,

a quantity of twelve log,

for twelve sela,

each

log

and log

for one sela I am selling to you.

And when we learned “the first one first he acquires,” this does not mean each small amount that enters the measure; rather, it means each log.

As Rav Kahana said [

on Shabbat 80b ]: “There were markings”

in the hin.

In a large vessel designated for measuring a hin [twelve log], they would sometimes make “markings”—that is, grooves or signs inside the vessel—so that they could also measure a smaller quantity with it. One mark indicated the measure of a log, a second mark indicated two log, and so on.

Here too,

in our beraita,

there were markings in the measures.

Therefore it teaches: “The first one first he acquires.” Although the entire vessel contains the measure of a hin, nevertheless, if he said to him, “I am selling each log for one sela,” then when he filled the vessel up to the mark for one log, the buyer acquired it, and neither party may retract from the transaction concerning that log. Likewise, when he filled the vessel up to the mark for two log, the second log was also acquired by the buyer.

Come and hear

from a beraita that is not in accordance with Rav and Shmuel:

Just as it is forbidden for a person to lend money to his fellow with interest, so too it is forbidden for him to sell an item cheaply because the purchase price was paid in advance.

One who hires the worker

in the month of Nisan, in order

to perform,

that the worker perform

with him

work

for the threshing floor,

at the time when the grain is gathered to the threshing floor, and paid him his wage in advance—in Nisan.

If the employer stipulated that he would pay the worker:

one dinar per day,

a dinar for each day of his work at the time of the threshing floor—