Bava Basra - Daf 77

• Audio Timestamps

0:00 - The 3 Sugyos

3:09 - Review of 3 Sugyos

5:59 - Siman

8:32 - 4 Blatt Back Chazarah

13:56 - Pop Quiz (Last 7 blatt)

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• אותיות מילי נינהו ומילי במילי לא מיקנין

Ameimar says the halachah follows Rebbe, that "אותיות" are acquired with מסירה, without a שטר (Tosafos has the opposite גירסא). Although he said this is known from גמרא – tradition, Rav Ashi said: סברא נמי הוא – it is also a logic, דאותיות מילי נינהו – because "אותיות" (i.e., the debt in the שטר) are mere intangible words, ומילי במילי לא מיקנין – and words cannot be acquired with mere words. Therefore, a שטר of sale cannot be necessary for acquiring a שטר חוב. This is challenged from Rav Huna’s ruling, that if a seller wrote a שטר of sale for a field before selling it, כיון שהחזיק זה בקרקע – once [the buyer] made a [kinyan] chazakah in the land, נקנה שטר בכל מקום שהוא – the שטר is acquired to him wherever it is (even if it is not inside the field), as the Mishnah teaches that מטלטלין are acquired along with קרקע with money, שטר, or chazakah. Although no physical kinyan was made on the שטר, the buyer acquires it through the seller’s mere agreement, proving that “words” can be acquired with “words”!? The Gemara answers: אגב שאני – acquiring along with land is different, because the kinyan made on the land is effective for the שטר as well.

• Acquiring מטבע with אגב vs. חליפין

The Gemara demonstrates the ability of "אגב" to acquire things “along with” a land acquisition more than an ordinary kinyan: דהא מטבע דלא ניקני בחליפין – because a coin, which cannot be acquired with חליפין, ואגב ארעא ניקני – yet can be acquired along with land. This is seen from the incident in which Rav Pappa had twelve thousand dinars of his with someone in Bei Chozai, and Rav Pappa transferred the money to Rav Shmuel bar Acha (who was traveling to Bei Chozai) אגב אסיפא דביתיה – along with the threshold of his house (which Rav Shmuel rented from Rav Pappa). The people of Bei Chazoi would not have given the money to Rav Shmuel if he had not acquired it, since they would be responsible for the money’s loss until it reached Rav Pappa. When Rav Shmuel was returning with the money, Rav Pappa went out to Tavach to greet him, because of his happiness that the money was being delivered.

• Machlokes if דמים מודיעין

The next Mishnah states: מכר את הצמד לא מכר את הבקר – one who sold a yoke, he did not automatically sell the cattle together with it; מכר את הבקר לא מכר את הצמד – if he sold the cattle, he did not automatically sell the yoke. Rebbe Yehudah says: הדמים מודיעין – sometimes, the price indicates what the sale included. For example, if the buyer said, “Sell me your yoke for two hundred zuz,” הדבר ידוע שאין הצמד במאתים זוז – it is well-known that a yoke alone is not sold for two hundred zuz, and he must have included the cattle as well. The Chochomim respond: אין הדמים ראיה – the price is not a proof.

The Gemara says that if, in this location, people call a yoke “yoke,” and cattle “cattle,” it is obvious that the cattle is not included, since he only said “yoke.” If they readily call the cattle “yoke,” all would agree that the cattle is sold with the yoke, as indicated by the price. Rather, the case is: באתרא דקרו ליה לצימדא צימדא ולבקר בקר – in a place where they call a yoke “yoke” and cattle “cattle,” ואיכא נמי דקרו לבקר צימדא – but there are also some who call cattle “yoke.” Rebbe Yehudah says the high price indicates that the seller is a person who calls both together “yoke,” and the Chochomim say the price is not sufficient proof.

Siman – Goat

The brilliant goat herder who came up with the סברא, that  מילי במילי לא מקנין when looking at his goat eat a shtar made up of אותיות  and used a  קנין אגבto transfer money to a friend that was kept in a far away place, told someone who bought a goat leash from him for the exorbitant price of two hundred zuz, that a goat was not included in the sale since אין הדמים ראיה.