Bava Batra 98b (צח:) — the Talmud in English

It was taught:

the tanna taught in a beraita:

And it continues to age until the festival.

If he said to him, “aged wine,” the wine must remain and continue aging until Sukkot, which is the time of the grape harvest, when the third year that it is undergoing comes to an end. This is the meaning of “aged”: that the wine should age for three complete years. And if the wine turns sour beforehand, the seller must return the money to the buyer.

Mishna:

One who sells a place to another

who is preparing to marry off his son, intending to make for him a “bridegroom’s house” for his son, or a “widowhood house” for his daughter.

And likewise,

a contractor

who accepts a place from another,

who undertook to build a structure for another on the latter’s land, intending

to make for him a “bridegroom’s house” for his son,

where he would live after his wedding, since this was the custom: A father would build a small house for his son adjacent to his own house, so that his son would not live in his father-in-law’s and mother-in-law’s house.

And

likewise, if he undertook to build on his fellow’s land

a widowhood house for his daughter,

a house in which his widowed daughter would live after returning to her father’s home—if they did not stipulate between them the size of the land and the house—

the contractor builds

the house with dimensions of

four cubits by six

cubits,

the statement of Rabbi Akiva.

Rabbi Yishmael says: This is a cattle shed!

And it is not fit for human habitation; rather, he must build the house larger.

One who wishes to make a cattle shed—

builds one four cubits by six.

And the Gemara will explain this clause and who stated it, Rabbi Akiva or Rabbi Yishmael.

A contractor who undertakes to build for his fellow

“a small house,”

for example, if his fellow said to him, “Build me a house” without specifying its size, in which case the contractor has the upper hand and may build him the smallest possible house, builds

six

cubits

by eight

cubits. Since he did not tell him to build a bridegroom’s house, but merely a house, he intended that he build the house for himself. Therefore, it must be larger than a bridegroom’s house.

And if he specified that he should build him

a large house,

he builds

eight

cubits

by ten

cubits.

And if he said to him that he should build him

a “palace,” he builds ten

cubits

by ten

cubits, because a palace is intended as a place for the seating of ministers and not for habitation. Therefore, it must be large and square.

And in all these houses,

its height,

the height of the house, must be proportionate to the area of the house,

equal together to half its length and half its width.

That is, a bridegroom’s house must be five cubits high; a small house, seven; a large house, nine; and a palace, ten.

A proof of this

that this is the proper ratio between the height of houses and their area is found in what we learned:

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says:

The ratio between the area of a house and its height must be

like the structure of the Sanctuary,

like the ratio between the area and the height of the Sanctuary in the Temple, whose Sanctuary was forty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, and whose height was thirty cubits. That is, approximately half its length and half its width.

Gemara:

And we raised a question about this:

Why do I need the tanna to teach,

why did the tanna distinguish in his wording between his son and his daughter, and specifically use the expression

“a bridegroom’s house” for his son, and “a widowhood house” for his daughter?

Let him teach:

Why did the tanna not state the cases of his son and daughter identically,

“a bridegroom’s house” for his son and daughter, and “a widowhood house” for his son and daughter!”

And we answer:

The tanna teaches us something incidentally,

the tanna in the Mishna wishes to teach us incidentally

that it is not the practice of a bridegroom to live in his father-in-law’s home.

A bridegroom does not customarily live near his father-in-law, because of suspicion, lest people say that he is engaging in improper relations with his mother-in-law. Therefore, the Mishna mentions, with regard to the daughter, that he builds her a widowhood house, since as long as she is married she does not live near her father because of her husband, who does not live near his father-in-law and mother-in-law. Conversely, with regard to the son, the Mishna does not mention that he builds him a widowhood house, because even before the son became a widower he did not live with his father-in-law, but with his own father.

As it is written in the Book of Ben Sira:

“I weighed everything on the pan of a balance, and I found nothing

that was

lighter,

of lesser value, than

bran .

Lighter than bran,

something of still lesser value, is

a bridegroom

who lives in his father-in-law’s house .

Lighter than a bridegroom—

a guest who brings another guest.

It should be enough for him that the host is hosting him, yet he brings another guest with him.

Lighter than a guest—

one who answers before hearing.

As it is stated

in Proverbs [18:13]:

“One who answers a matter before hearing it—it is folly for him, and disgrace.”

We learned in the Mishna:

Rabbi Yishmael says: This is a cattle shed.

One who wishes to make a cattle shed

builds one four cubits by six.

And we raised a question about this:

“

A cattle shed”—

which tanna taught this? Which of the tannaim, Rabbi Yishmael or Rabbi Akiva, stated the ruling that “one who wishes to make a cattle shed” builds one four cubits by six?

And we answer:

Some say: Rabbi Yishmael taught it.

And some say: Rabbi Akiva taught it.

And this is what he is saying

to Rabbi Yishmael:

Even though

you argue

that

at such a small size

it is a cattle shed,

as one who wishes to make a cattle shed builds one four cubits by six, nevertheless, this is also the measure for a bridegroom’s house, because

at times a person makes his dwelling like a cattle shed.

And some say: Rabbi Yishmael taught it.

And this is what he is saying:

At first he says, “This is a cattle shed,” and afterward he explains his words:

That

indeed

one who wishes to make a cattle shed makes one four cubits by six,

so how can a bridegroom’s house have such dimensions?

According to this opinion, Rabbi Akiva holds that the measure of a cattle shed is less than four by six. Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yishmael disagree concerning both matters, both the bridegroom’s house and the cattle shed. However, Rabbi Akiva explains only the measure of the bridegroom’s house, while he does not explain the measure of a cattle shed. Rabbi Yishmael explains the measure of the cattle shed, but does not explain the measure of the bridegroom’s house.

We learned in the Mishna:

A palace is ten by ten.

And we raised a question about this:

What is a palace?

And we answer:

A domed chamber with roses,

made with windows like the domed chambers of prostitutes, where roses are placed for decoration so that people may gaze at them.

It was taught:

And a kantir,

one who undertook to build a kantir must build it

twelve

cubits

by twelve

cubits.

And we raised a question about this:

What is a kantir?

And we answer:

The courtyard of a palace,

a large courtyard in front of the palace of ministers .

We learned in the Mishna:

Its height is half its length and half its width; a proof of this: Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says, like the structure of the Sanctuary.

And we raised a question about this:

“

A proof of this”—

is this the beginning of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel’s statement? Or, since it is said before Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel’s statement, did the first tanna say it, with Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel disagreeing?

And we answer:

Some say: Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel taught it.

And this is what he is saying: From where is there a proof

that the height of a house must be half its length and half its width?

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: Everything is like the structure of the Sanctuary.

And some say: The first tanna taught it,

who began saying that there is a proof of this,

and Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel

interrupted him in the middle of his statement and

expressed astonishment, and this is what he said to him

[to the first tanna]:

From where is there a proof?

From the structure of the Sanctuary?!

Do all people build according to the structure of the Sanctuary?

Do they build all houses according to the structure of the important Sanctuary? Since the Sanctuary was half as high as it was long and half as high as it was wide, perhaps an ordinary house need only be lower.

It was taught: Others say: Its height is like the length of its beams,

the height of the house must be equal to the length of the beams laid across the width of the house.

And we raised a question about this:

Let him say: Its height is like its width,

that its height is equal to the width of the house itself. Why must the measure be stated in terms of the length of the beams?

:

Alternatively, if you wish, the house is wider at the top.

There is space,

because the wall is wider at the bottom and gradually becomes narrower toward the top, so that it will stand more firmly. Therefore, the measure was given in terms of the length of the beams, that is, according to the width of the house at the top.

Alternatively, if you wish, it is because there are spaces for windows,

as the width also includes the windows, that is, the places where the beams enter the wall.

Rabbi Ḥanina went out to the towns,

he went out to the towns.

The townspeople posed to him

the following difficulty:

The verses contradict one another,

as the verses contradict one another?

It is written

in I Kings [6:2]: "

And the House that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high."

It follows that the Holy of Holies as well, which was included within the sixty cubits, was thirty cubits high.

And it is written there, verse 20: "

And before the partition

[that is, inside the partition of the Holy of Holies, meaning the Holy of Holies itself]

twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high."

It follows that the height of the Holy of Holies was only twenty cubits?

He said to them,

Rabbi Ḥanina:

When it is calculated,

the twenty cubits are measured

from the top of the cherubs upward,

for in the Temple that Solomon built, two cherubs stood on the floor in the Holy of Holies, on the two sides of the Ark [in addition to the cherubs on the Ark’s cover that Moses made], and their height was ten cubits. It follows that there were only twenty cubits from their top upward.

And we raise the following question:

What is this teaching us?

Why, in fact, did the verse calculate the height from the top of the cherubs upward, rather than from the ground, which would be thirty cubits?