Bava Basra - Daf 56

• Audio Timestamps

0:00 - The 3 Sugyos

3:16 - Review of 3 Sugyos

6:24- Siman

9:36 - 4 Blatt Back Chazarah

18:19 - Pop Quiz (Last 7 blatt)

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• עדים of a chazakah who were found זוממים

The next Mishnah states that if two עדים testified about three years of a chazakah, ונמצאו זוממים – and they were found to be zomemim (other עדים testified they could not have witnessed their testimony, because they were elsewhere during that time), משלמין לו את הכל – they pay [the original owner] for the entire [property], since their testimony would have deprived him of the property. שנים בראשונה שנים בשניה ושנים בשלישית – If two עדים testify about the first year of use, two others testify about the second year, and two others about the third year, combining to a full testimony of chazakah, and they were found to be זוממים, משלשין ביניהם – they divide the payment in three among them, since their testimony was combined to potentially take away his property. The Mishnah concludes that if three brothers each testified to one year of chazakah, and another unrelated witness testified to all three years, הרי אלו שלש עדיות – these are considered three independent testimonies (since they concern different years), and can establish a chazakah, והן עדות אחת להזמה – but are considered one testimony regarding hazamah (that they divide the penalty, and no one pays unless all the עדים are found זוממים).

• דבר ולא חצי דבר

Our Mishnah which allows combining three testimonies about separate years into a chazakah disagrees with Rebbe Akiva: in a Baraisa, Rebbe Yose relates that when his father Chalafta went to learn Torah under Rebbe Yochanan ben Nuri (some have it as the reverse), they both agreed such testimony could be combined, but Rebbe Akiva argued and said that since the Torah writes that a "דבר" - matter is established through two witnesses, we darshen: "דבר" ולא חצי דבר – a complete matter, but not half a matter. Any testimony must have a legal impact on its own to be valid. In our Mishnah, since each pair of witnesses only testifies to one year, which cannot establish a chazakah, none of the testimony is acceptable.

Our Mishnah, which combines such testimony, holds "חצי דבר" excludes a different case, where two עדים attest to a single hair on a girl’s “back,” and another two attest to a single hair on her “stomach.” These testimonies are not combined to consider her an adult. The Rashbam explains that here, where both hairs could have been seen at once, testimony about only one is deficient, as opposed to testimony about separate years, which by definition cannot be witnessed at once.

• אחד אומר אכלה חטים ואחד אומר אכלה שעורים

Rav Yehudah said: אחד אומר אכלה חטים – If one witness says [the מחזיק] cultivated wheat as [the field’s] produce, ואחד אומר אכלה שעורים – and one witness says he cultivated barley, הרי זו חזקה – this is a valid chazakah. Rav Nachman assumed Rav Yehudah referred to witnesses testifying about different years of consumption, and therefore asked that if so, if one witness testified that a מחזיק used the land for the first, third, and fifth years, and the second witness testified that he used it for the second, fourth, and sixth years, could that establish a chazakah?! Since neither עד attests to three consecutive years of use, a chazakah cannot be established!? Rav Yehudah replied that in the latter case, the עדים are not testifying about the same years, and cannot be combined for a chazakah, since neither testified to a chazakah. But in the first case, both עדים testify about the same three years. Although they contradict each other about which produce was eaten, בין חיטי לשערי לאו אדעתייהו דאינשי – people do not notice the difference between wheat and barley, so the disagreement on this detail is disregarded.

Siman – Nu Nu (shusher)

The shusher in Beis Din said “nu nu” to quiet two  עדים זוממיןtestifying to a חזקה who had to pay the owner for a field, and to two other eidim who were saying half an עדות, because of דבר ולא חצי דבר, to allow a set of eidim to testify on a חזקה even though one said the מחזיק ate wheat and the other said he ate barley.