Bava Metzia 114b — the Talmud in English

Rabba bar Avuha further asked Elijah,

From where is it derived that

a person who is standing

naked may not separate

teruma,

Elijah said to him:

As it is written [Deuteronomy 23] “

And he shall not see an unseemly thing among you,”

it follows that at the time when you speak of it, he shall not see an unseemly thing among you; and since teruma requires a blessing, it is forbidden to separate teruma while he is naked.

He said to him,

Rabba bar Avuha said to Elijah, and is

it not the case that

you are

a koen!

And

for what reason are you standing in a cemetery?

He said to him,

Elijah said to Rabba: and did

you not study

the order of

Toharot?

As it was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai says: The graves of gentiles do not impart ritual impurity, as it is stated [Ezekiel 34]

“And you are My sheep, the sheep of My pasture; you are men.”

And we interpret: only

you are called “men,” but gentiles are not called men,

and since it is stated [Numbers 19:14], “When a man dies in a tent, whoever enters the tent and whatever is in the tent shall be impure for seven days,” we learn from it that corpse impurity applies only to one who is called a man, namely, a Jew, but not to a gentile. Therefore, the graves of gentiles do not impart ritual impurity.

He said to him,

Rabba bar Avuha said to Elijah: If

in the four

orders that are relevant to practical halakha [namely, Moed, Nashim, Nezikin, and Kodashim] I still

have not mastered them,

I do not remember them properly, do I

master

the

other

six

orders of the Mishna, which are not practiced in the Diaspora [namely, Zeraim and Toharot],

master

them!?

He said to him,

Elijah:

And why?

He said to him,

Rabba bar Avuha said to Elijah:

The matter is pressing for me,

I am not familiar with them because of the difficulty of earning a livelihood.

Because of his words,

Elijah took Rabba bar Avuha with him,

and brought him in,

he brought him up

to the Garden of Eden,

he said to him,

Elijah:

Remove

your

cloak

,

and

gather,

collect, and

place

inside it

these leaves,

the leaves that grow there.

He gathered,

Rabba bar Avuha gathered, and

placed

some of those leaves inside his cloak,

when he was going out,

when he wished to return,

he

heard a

voice saying: Who is eating his world in the World to Come,

who is this that eats the reward of his World to Come in this world,

like Rabba bar Avuha?

Immediately he

shook out

the leaves from his cloak, and

threw them away,

he threw them away so as not to derive benefit from the reward stored up for him in the World to Come.

And even so,

when

he brought his cloak,

he found that

the cloak had absorbed

the

fragrance

from the leaves that had been in it;

he

sold

his cloak for twelve thousand dinars,

and since he did not wish to derive benefit from his World to Come,

he divided it—

he divided the money—

among his sons-in-law .

The Sages taught: It is stated [Deuteronomy 24]:

“And if he is a poor man, you shall not lie down with his pledge,”

it implies

this

with the pledge of a

rich man, he may lie down,

it is permitted for the lender to use it,

And we raise an objection:

What is it saying?

For if the lender uses the pledge of the wealthy borrower, he transgresses the prohibition of interest, since in exchange for the loan he receives also the use of his cloak, in addition to the repayment of the debt by the borrower ,

Rav Sheshet said: This is what it is saying: And if he is a poor man, you shall not lie down, with his pledge beside you,

for it implies

this: if he is rich, lie down, with his pledge beside you ,

but it is forbidden to use the pledge, whether the borrower is poor or whether he is rich.

The Sages taught: One who lends money to his fellow

without a pledge, and the repayment date arrived,

is not permitted to take a pledge from him,

rather, he should bring a claim against him in the court, and they will send their agent to take a pledge from him,

and

if the lender transgressed and took a pledge, he

is not obligated to return it to him, and he transgresses

the lender

all these Names: “You shall surely return to him the pledge at sunset” [Deuteronomy 24:13]; “And if he is a poor man, you shall not lie down with his pledge” [there, 12]; “If you take your fellow’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset” [Exodus 22:25].

And we raise an objection:

What is it saying?

You said that if he transgressed and took a pledge, he is not obligated to return it to him; if so, why does the lender transgress all these Names?

Rav Sheshet said:

Do not say: If he transgressed and took a pledge, he is not obligated to return it to him. Rather,

this is what it is saying: One who lends money to his fellow is not permitted

to enter his house

to take a pledge from him,

and if

he transgressed and

took a pledge, he is obligated to return it to him

when the borrower needs it ,

and

that which it teaches

that he transgresses all these Names

refers

to the end

—if he transgressed, took a pledge, and did not return it to him.

Rava said:

Let us always read: “If he transgressed and took a pledge, he is not obligated to return it to the borrower,” and

this is what it is saying: One who lends money to his fellow is not permitted to take a pledge from him,

and if

he transgressed and

took a pledge, he is obligated to return it to him

when he needs to use his utensils,

In what case are these words said? When he took a pledge

the lender

not at the time of the loan,

but only when the payment date arrived did he take a pledge from him.

But

if he

took a pledge

already

at the time of the loan, he is not obligated to return it to him

the pledge, even at a time when the borrower needs it ,

And

that which it teaches that the lender

transgresses all these Names

refers

to the beginning

of the teaching, which teaches that if he transgressed and took a pledge, he is obligated to return it to him; and it deals with a pledge taken not at the time of the loan, for if he did not return the pledge when the borrower needed it, he transgresses all these Names.

Rav Shizebi taught before Rava:

That which is written, “If you take your fellow’s garment as a pledge,”

before sunset

you shall return it to him [Exodus 22:25]:

this is a night garment,

which the lender must return before sunset, meaning that he returns the night garment in the morning and it remains in the borrower’s possession until sunset. And that which is written

“You shall surely return to him the pledge at sunset,” this is a day garment,

which the lender must return to the borrower at sunset, with the coming of sunset,

he said to him,

Rava said to Rav Shizebi: What need does the borrower have for a garment

of the day at night,

and

why do I need

to return it if the borrower cannot use it,

and likewise, a garment

of the night during the day, why do I need it?

He said to him,

Rav Shizebi:

Shall I remove it,

shall I remove this beraita from my study?

He said to him,

Rava:

No,

do not remove it; and the tanna of the beraita who says that a day garment is returned at night did not speak of a garment suitable for wearing during the day, but of a garment suitable for taking as a pledge during the day, which is in fact a night garment, and the lender must return it toward nightfall. And likewise, a night garment means a garment suitable for taking as a pledge at night, for it is in fact a day garment. Therefore, he returns it toward daytime .

to him:

And

this is what it is saying:

That which is written “Before sunset

you shall return it to him,” this is a day garment given to be taken as a pledge at night,

and the lender must return it to the borrower so that it will be in his possession until sunset, because this is a day garment,

and that which is written

“You shall surely return to him the pledge at sunset,” this is a night garment given to be taken as a pledge during the day .

and the lender must return it to the borrower so that it will remain in his possession until sunset, because it is a day garment.

Rabbi Yohanan said: A lender who

took a pledge

from a borrower

and the borrower died, the lender is not obligated to return the pledge at a time when the orphans need to use it; rather, he

takes it away

for himself

from upon the children

of the borrower.

And the reason for this is that the lender acquires the pledge when he pulls it for the first time, and it is thereby pledged to him; rather, the Torah imposed upon the lender the obligation to return the pledge to the borrower when he needs it, but when he dies, the Torah did not impose upon him the obligation to return the pledge to his sons.

It was objected: Rabbi Meir said: Since

according to Torah law

one takes pledges

from the borrower,

why do they return

the pledge to him when he needs it?

And one must wonder about Rabbi Meir’s question: What difficulty does he have with

“Why do they return it?”

For

the Merciful One said

that it is possible to take a pledge, but if the borrower needs the pledge,

return

it

to him,

Rather,

necessarily, this is what Rabbi Meir found difficult:

Since

according to Torah law

they return

the pledge when the borrower needs it,

Since

by Torah law one

returns

the pledge when the borrower needs it,