Bava Basra - Daf 166
- יד בעל השטר על התחתונה
The Mishnah on the previous Daf discusses how to interpret vague terms in a שטר. A Baraisa teaches that a שטר which records a debt of "דהב" – gold, means no less than a gold dinar (albeit only if the שטר states "מטבע" – a coin, proving it does not mean a mere piece of gold; it must be a dinar, which is the smallest gold denomination). Although the term "דהב דינרין" – gold, dinarim, or "דינרין דהב" – dinarim, gold means at least two gold dinarim, but "זהב בדינרין" – gold in dinarim is interpreted as at least two silver dinarim’s worth of gold. The Gemara asks that perhaps he means gold fragments worth two gold dinarim!? Abaye answers: יד בעל השטר על התחתונה – the holder of the שטר has the lower hand. Since he seeks to collect money from the defendant’s possession, he can only collect the lowest plausible interpretation. Still, we interpret the previous two cases as gold dinarim, and not silver dinarim’s worth of gold, because in that case he wrote "דינרי", which indicates gold dinarim, whereas in the final case he wrote "דינרין", which can mean silver.
- A woman with five doubtful childbirths brings only one korban
A Mishnah teaches: האשה שהיו עליה ספק חמש לידות – a woman who was liable for five doubtful childbirths (she miscarried five times, and does not know if the fetus was substantial enough to require a korban for childbirth), or if she experienced five doubtful cases of זיבה, מביאה קרבן אחד – she brings one pair of birds for a korban, ואוכלת בזבחים – and then she may eat meat of korbanos, because her taharah process is complete, ואין השאר עליה חובה – and the other four possible korban obligations are not incumbent upon her, because a חטאת העוף is not brought out of doubt (since it cannot be eaten, and is buried) unless it is necessary to enable her to eat kodashim. A woman who had five definite childbirths may also eat kodashim after bringing one korban but remains obligated to bring the rest of her korbanos. Once, a pair of birds cost gold dinarim, and Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel swore he would not sleep before reducing the price to silver dinarim. He announced that a woman with multiple definite childbirths requires only a single korban, whereupon the price fell that day to a quarter-dinar.
- Only one missing letter can be learned from the beginning of a שטר, but not two letters
The Mishnah on the previous Daf taught that although we follow the lower portion of a שטר when there is a conflict between the upper and lower portions, the upper portion can be used if a letter is missing from the lower portion. A Baraisa states: ילמד התחתון מן העליון באות אחת – the lower portion can be learned from the upper portion for one letter, אבל לא בשתי אותיות – but not for two letters. For example, we can clarify the name "חנן" written below to mean the name "חנני" written above, or "ענן" from "ענני", but we cannot learn "חן" or "ען" from the names written above. The Gemara wonders about the difference: if the problem with two missing letters is that a four-letter name missing two letters would be missing half the name, the same should apply to a single missing letter, which would be half of a two-letter name!? Rather, the problem unique to two missing letters is: דלמא מיתרמי שם בן שלש אותיות – perhaps a name of three letters will appear in a שטר, והוה ליה רובא דשמא – and [two missing letters] would be most of the name. Instead, we say the שטר was written for someone with the shorter name in the lower portion.
