Bava Metzia 106b — the Talmud in English

And we challenged again:

And let the owners say to him

:

Granted that for a great miracle,

that the animals would be saved by themselves,

we would not have seen it,

perhaps

for a small miracle

exact position of the page

we would have seen it,

and perhaps had you remained there, you would have been able to save them,

And we conclude:

It is difficult.

And the Gemara now brings an apparent contradiction between two baraitot:

One taught:

One who receives a field from another through chakhirut, in order to sow it and to give the owner from it a fixed measure at the end of every year,

the first and second time

he sows it,

for if a locust ate it or it was blighted after he sowed it once, he must try to sow it again; and if, after he sowed it a second time, a locust ate it, then the

third time he does not sow it.

And another taught:

If it was blighted twice, he must also sow it a

third

time

;

but a

fourth time he does not sow it.

And we resolve:

It is not difficult: this one is according to Rabbi, and this one is according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel.

This

that we learned, that the third time he does not sow it,

is according to Rabbi, who says: After two occurrences there is a presumption.

Here too, the field acquired a presumption after two occurrences as a field whose usual condition is to be blighted, and he need not pay the owners.

And

this

that we learned, that he sows it three times, and the fourth time he does not sow it,

is according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, who says: After three occurrences there is a presumption,

and only after it was blighted three times did it acquire a presumption of being a blighted field .

Resh Lakish said:

This that we learned, that if a leased field was blighted through a regional calamity, the lessee deducts from the owner’s rent,

was taught only when he sowed it and it sprouted, and

in the end

a locust ate it.

But if he sowed it and it did not sprout

at all,

the landowner can say to him

:

All the days of sowing,

as long as the sowing period continues,

sow it and continue!

Perhaps the time for sowing has not yet arrived, and therefore it did not sprout, and you must sow it now. But if, after it did not sprout, the tenant farmer refrained from sowing, he cannot deduct from the owner what they agreed would be due to him.

And the Gemara explains:

Until when

is the duration of the sowing period?

And the Gemara explains the duration of the sowing period according to the order of the constellations in the heavens.

A. Among the many stars in the sky, there are twelve groups of stars, called “zodiac signs.”

B. Each zodiac sign [group of stars] has a particular shape and a designation, such as “Bull” or “Bow,” and the like.

C. These twelve zodiac signs appear in the sky in a fixed order, one after the other.

D. Six of the zodiac signs are always “above,” on the visible side of the sky, and six of them are always “below,” on the other, invisible side of the sky.

E. Every two hours a new zodiac sign rises on one side of the sky, and at that same time another zodiac sign sets on the opposite side of the sky [the sign that was in the sky for twelve hours].

F. Each month, at the beginning of the day, another zodiac sign rises in the sky according to a fixed order, so that the times of the year can be determined by the rising of the zodiac signs in the sky.

And this is the order of the zodiac signs that rise in the sky in the morning, according to the months of the year:

Nisan — Aries. Iyar — Taurus. Sivan — Gemini. Tammuz — Scorpio. Av — Leo. Elul — Virgo. Tishrei — Libra. Cheshvan — Scorpio. Kislev — Sagittarius. Tevet — Capricorn. Shevat — Aquarius. Adar — Pisces.

As stated, each morning six zodiac signs rise in the sky, and opposite them six descend; and this is the order of their rising: In the month of Nisan, Aries rises at the beginning of the day. Two hours later Taurus rises. And so, every two hours during the day, another sign is added in the sky, and opposite it another sign sets, according to the order.

Thus, at the end of the day in the month of Nisan, at the twelfth hour of the day, six of the zodiac signs are found in the expanse of the world; at their head [at the far end of the sky] is Aries, and at their end [at the first, opposite end of the sky] is Virgo.

In the month of Adar, Pisces rises first in the morning, and after two hours Aries rises, completing its rising in the fourth hour.

After it, Taurus begins to rise at the beginning of the fifth hour, and completes its rising entirely, at the end of the sky, at the end of the sixth hour, which is midday.

It follows that Pisces, which rises first in the month of Adar, stands in the middle of the expanse of the world at the end of the sixth hour [and remains there for two hours], and two more zodiac signs have already risen after it [Aries and Taurus], while there is still room for three more zodiac signs to rise during the day.

And when Gemini, which follows Taurus, rises at the beginning of the seventh hour, Aries is then found standing in the middle of the expanse of the world, from midday until the end of the eighth hour [and at the beginning of the ninth hour Scorpio rises at the edge of the sky].

Then, at the beginning of the ninth hour, Taurus is the one standing in the middle of the sky. But the “tail” of Aries [which was before it] still remains, hanging together with Taurus, whose time it now is to be in the middle of the sky.

And at this hour, a person walking in the marketplace—if the zodiac signs could be seen during the day—would see the head of the bull that is in the middle of the sky as though it were inside the tail of the ram that precedes it.

Rav Pappa said:

The sowing period is

until

the time when

the tenant farmers come from the desert,

from their place of work in the field, which is the ninth hour of the day,

and

it appears as though

Kima is standing

the tail of Aries

above their heads,

above their heads.

And this is the month of Adar, when at the end of the ninth hour of the day the tail of Aries is found in the middle of the expanse of the world.

It was challenged

from a beraita, in which we learned:

The six seasons of the year were promised to Noah, as it is stated [Genesis 8:22]: “All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” And now it explains and proceeds to state when the time of each season is.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel in the name of Rabbi Meir says, and Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya likewise used to say in accordance with his words:

A.

Half of Tishrei, Cheshvan, and half of Kislev

is the time of the beginning of the rains, and this is the season of

“seed.”

B.

Half of Kislev, Tevet, and half of Shevat

is

winter

[a term expressing the strength and force of autumn].

C.

Half of Shevat, Adar, and half of Nisan —

cold.

D.

Half of Nisan, Iyar, and half of Sivan

is the beginning of the days of heat, and this is the season of

harvest.

E.

Half of Sivan, Tammuz, and half of Av —

summer.

During which dried figs are dried.

F.

Half of Av, Elul, and half of Tishrei —

heat.

And

Rabbi Yehuda counts from Tishrei.

That is: Tishrei and Cheshvan are seed, Kislev and Tevet are winter, and so on in this order.

And

Rabbi Shimon counts from Cheshvan.

That is: Cheshvan and Kislev are seed, Tevet and Shevat are winter, and so on.

And the Gemara infers from the beraita:

Who is the most lenient in all of them,

according to whose view the sowing time is the latest? —

Rabbi Shimon!

For he maintains that the sowing time lasts until the end of Kislev.

And

even he

did not say all this,

that the sowing time lasts until the middle of Adar.

If so, it is difficult: In accordance with whom did Rav Pappa speak!?

And we answer:

It is not difficult. This

which is implied by the beraita, that the latest time is Kislev, is when he received from him

seeds

that must be sown

early,

such as wheat and rye seeds.

And

this

that Rav Pappa said that the sowing time is in Adar, is when he received from him

to sow

seeds to sow

late,

barley and legumes, which are sown in Adar.

We learned in the Mishna:

Rabbi Yehuda says: If he received it from him for money, in either case he does not deduct from his rent.

A certain man received land

as a rental

to sow garlic in it,

and the field was

on the bank

on its edge

of the Malka Sava River

[this is the name of the river], on the condition that he would pay the owners

such and such

amount of

coins

per year. In the end,

the Malka Sava River dried up,

as the water ceased to flow in it.

He came

the tenant

before Rava,

and requested to be exempt from what he had undertaken to pay the owner of the field.

Rava said to him

to the owners:

The Malka Sava River does not normally dry up;

its waters are not expected to cease, and if they ceased, certainly

it is a regional calamity; go, deduct for him

the tenant.

The Sages said to Rava: Did we not learn

in the Mishna,

“Rabbi Yehuda says: If he received it from him for money, in either case he does not deduct from his rent,”

for the exemption of a regional calamity does not apply to money!

He said to them: No one takes account of Rabbi Yehuda!

And therefore the tenant deducts from his rent to the owners.

Mishna:

One who receives a field from another

through chakhirut

for ten kor of wheat per year, and it was blighted,

the field through blight,

gives him

the lessee gives him the rent he undertook to give him

from it,

and likewise if

its wheat was superior

to the ordinary,

he may not say to him

the lessee:

I am taking from the market

ordinary wheat in order to pay you your rent,

but he gives him from it:

Gemara:

A certain man received land

through chakhirut

to

sow it

with alfalfa,

with the understanding that he would pay the owner

with market barley

from the market. And he sowed it, and

it produced alfalfa.

And

afterward

, he plowed it and sowed barley,

so that he would be able to pay the lessor the barley he had undertaken to give him from what would grow in this very field, and would not need to buy barley for him in the market.

And this barley was defective.

Rav Chaviva of Sura of the Euphrates sent before Ravina: In a case like this, what is the law?

Can he pay his rent from that defective barley that the tenant grew in the owner’s field,

for is it not similar to: “If it was blighted, he gives him from it”?

Or not,

rather, the tenant must buy other, good barley in the market, in order to pay his rent with it.

He said to him: Are the cases comparable?

to our Mishna, which says that if the wheat was defective, he pays from it!?

But

there, the land did not perform the agency of its owner.

For the owners told him to sow wheat, and therefore, if it was blighted, he pays the owners from it.

But here,

where he rented it for the purpose of sowing alfalfa,

the land performed the agency of its owner!

For the alfalfa was not blighted; only the barley that he sowed without the owner’s intention was blighted. Therefore he cannot pay the owners from the blighted barley, but must pay him good barley from the market.

A certain man received an orchard

[a vineyard]

from another through chakhirut,

on the condition that the tenant would pay the owners at the end of the year

with ten barrels of wine

[wine barrels] that he would produce from the orchard. In the end, after the vines grew properly, the tenant made wine from them,

and the wine

became sour,

the wine fermented and spoiled. And the lessor does not want to take spoiled wine, but only new wine from the market.

Rav Kahana thought to say

that this case

is the same as the Mishna,

which teaches: One who receives a field from another and

it was blighted, he gives him from it;

so here too, the lessor should accept spoiled wine that came from the vines of that field which he leased.

Rav Ashi said to him: Are the cases comparable!? There

in the Mishna, the produce was spoiled while it was still attached to the ground,

the land did not perform the agency,

for it did not produce good fruit, and therefore he gives the lessor from it, for the tenant says to him: This is what came out of your field.

But

here,

where he agreed with the lessor to give him wine, and

the land performed the agency,

for the vines were not defective, but only the wine made after the harvest became sour, the tenant cannot say: This is what came out of your field! Rather, he must give the lessor new wine from the market .

And Rav Ashi concedes with regard to grapes that became wormy,

that became wormy while he left them to dry in the field,

and with regard to a field whose sheaves were blighted,

that the sheaves he gathered after the harvest became blighted, that the tenant gives the owners his rent from it, for since the produce still needed to remain on the ground, we consider it as though the land did not perform its agency.

Mishna:

One who receives a field from another

through chakhirut, on condition that he produce for the owner of the field a fixed measure from the produce each year, and the owner of the field told him to sow it

with barley, he may not sow it with wheat,

because wheat exhausts the soil more than barley.

And if he received it with the understanding that he would sow it

with wheat, he may sow it with barley,

for through this the owner benefits, since his field will not be exhausted.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel forbids.

And likewise, if he received it to sow it

with grain, he may not sow it with legumes,

because they exhaust the field more than grain. But if he received it to sow it

with legumes, he may sow it with grain.

And Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel forbids:

Gemara:

Rav Chisda said: What is the reason of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel

who forbade changing even for the owner’s benefit?

Because

it is written

[Zephaniah 3]:

“The remnant of Israel shall not commit injustice, and they shall not speak falsehood, and there shall not be found

in their mouth a deceitful tongue,”

and since he accepted upon himself to sow it with one thing, he may not change it to another thing.

It was challenged

from that which was taught: Charity collectors who collected the

collection

[fundraising]

of Purim

shall give all the money to the poor

for

the

Purim feast, and they are not exacting in the matter

to see whether perhaps the poor have enough with less than this and the remainder should stay in the charity fund.

And

likewise,

the poor person is not permitted

to change the money he received for the Purim feast for another use, such as

to take from it a strap for his sandal, unless he stipulated

to change the charity

in the presence

with the agreement of

the people of the city—these are the words of Rabbi Yaakov, who said

so

in the name of Rabbi Meir,