Bava Batra 10 – Merits of Charity (Civil)

The Roman general Turanus Rufus asked of Rabbi Akiva,

T. If your God loves the poor, why does He not sustain them?
A. So that by giving them charity, we may be saved from the punishment in the World to Come.
T. On the contrary! You will be punished for transgressing God's will. It is analogous to a case of a king who was angry at his servant, confined him in prison, and ordered that no one feed him. One who provides the slave should be put to death. And you Jews are called servants of God.
A. No, Jews are called children of God, and this is similar to a king who was angry at his son, but one man still fed him, which made the king happy.
T. You are called children when you do God's will, but now you are in exile.
A. Then we should surely feed the poor because "You will break your bread for the hungry when captors (Romans) come to your house..."

Art: Alms to the Poor by Martin Drolling

Bava Batra 9 – Importance of Charity (Civil)

What does “And He donned charity like a coat of armor...” mean? Why is charity compared to a coat of armor? To tell you that just as each scale combines to form a large coat of armor, so concerning giving charity, each coin combines with all others to comprise a large sum, that is, to be considered as a large gift, reflecting more favorably on the donor.

One who gives a small coin to a pauper is blessed with six Heavenly blessings, and one who comforts him with words gets eleven blessings.

Art: Alms for the Poor by Robert Kemm

Bava Batra 8 – Feeding the Unlearned (Civil)

Rabbi Yehudah the Prince opened food storehouses to feed the poor during famine. However, he said that only the students of the Torah may enter and take food, but not unlearned folk, since he held that misfortunes come to the world only because of the unlearned people.

His disciple, Rabbi Yonatan ben Amram, disguised himself and pushed his way in:

- Master, please sustain me.
- My son, are you a student of the Torah or related areas?
- No.
- If so, on what merit shall I sustain you?
- Sustain me as you would a dog or a raven.

Rabbi Yehudah relented but later became distressed. His son Rabbi Shimon said, "Perhaps this is Rabbi Yonatan, who did not wish to benefit from his Torah." They found this was so, and Rabbi Yehudah announced, "Let everyone enter."

Art: Waiting in the Clinic by Charles Perrandeau

Bava Batra 7 – Community-Enforceable Obligations (Civil)

One whose home adjoins a common courtyard is obligated to contribute toward maintaining the privacy and security of this courtyard. If he is unwilling, he may be compelled to help build a gatehouse and a door for the courtyard.

A gatekeeper would sit in the shade of the gatehouse and prevent passersby on the public road from gazing into the courtyard. The door was used to keep outsiders from actually entering the courtyard.

How long must one be in the city to be treated like one of the city's citizens? - 12 months. But if he bought a house, he is immediately treated like one of the citizens.

Art: At the Gateway by Guglielmo Ciardi

Bava Batra 6 – Privacy on the Roof (Civil)

If two homes are standing on two opposite sides of a public domain, both owners must make a fence of four amot (about 6 feet) high across half of their roof. The fences must not be directly opposite each other. Instead, each must cover the adjoining side, preventing his neighbor from looking directly into his roof and preventing him from looking into his neighbor's roof. Furthermore, the fences must be slightly longer than half the roof, thus further obstructing the view.

It would be impractical for each owner to build a fence and unenforceable to require only one owner to do so.

Even though one owner can say, "What difference does my fence make? The public sees you anyway?" - the other one can reply, "I can hide from the public by doing my private acts at night, but I can't hide from you."

Art: Rooftops in Naples by Thomas Jones

Bava Batra 5 - Fence Cost Settlement (Civil)

Ravina had four fields that surrounded Runia's field. He built fences around them and demanded reimbursement from Runia since Runia's field was now wholly fenced.

Runia refused since he had done nothing to indicate his satisfaction with the fences. Ravina asked for the cost of the fence material if it was bought cheaply. Then, for the hire of a watchman. Runia kept refusing.

One day, Runia was harvesting dates in his field. Ravina sent his sharecropper to take a cluster of dates, and Runia shouted at him. Ravina said, "You have shown that you want the dates protected." They went to Rava's court. Rava told Runia, "If you want to settle for what Ravina offered – good, and if not, you will have to pay half of the real cost of the fence."

Art: Behind the Fence by Pierre Bonnard

Bava Batra 4 – King Herod Rebuilds the Temple (Civil)

King Herod feared that the Sages might question his fitness to be a king, leading to a rebellion, and killed all of them, leaving Bava ben Buta, whom he blinded. He then pretended to be a commoner and came to test Bava ben Buta.

H. See, master, what is this wicked slave doing?

B. What shall I do to him?

H. Curse him.

B. “Even in your thoughts, do not curse a king...”

H. But this man is not a king.

B. “...even in your bedroom do not curse the rich...”, and “... a prince among your people you shall not curse.”

H. If I had known that the Sages were so circumspect, I would not have killed them. What is my remedy?

B. Rebuild the Temple.

And so King Herod started.

Art: Temple by Roberts

Bava Batra 3 – Visual Trespass is Actionable in Court (Civil)

Contrary to the conclusion reached before, now we have decided that visual trespass is damaging. In the case of two partners who agreed to make a partition in their jointly owned courtyard, the “partition” is understood as a division, not a wall.

Now, the case reads as follows. Once they agreed to divide the yard, even though they did not stipulate to build the wall, they must make a stone wall against the objections of either party. This is true even if they have not agreed to divide since any one of them can separate at will. However, the previous ruling deals with a tiny yard of less than 8 by 4 amot (about 16 by 8 feet), which is only divisible if they agree to divide it.

Art: Landscape with Crumbling Wall by Caspar David Friedrich

Bava Batra 2 – Privacy Rights in a Courtyard (Civil)

Observing one's activities is considered a form of trespass on his domain. Thus, the Rabbi required that fences and walls be built between neighboring properties to prevent such violations. Private places, such as a person's home, where intimate acts are constantly performed, are clearly protected by the law of privacy. A courtyard, however, is considered a semi-private place.

Partners who agreed to make a partition in a courtyard they own jointly must build a wall in the center of the courtyard, each providing half of the land upon which to build. This is true, however, only if they agreed to a partition. Since courtyards are semi-private, one cannot force the other to do so since visual trespass in this situation is not actionable.

Art: Night Winder by Edward Hopper

Bava Metzia 119 – The Law is Like Rabbi Shimon (Finds)

In the case of vegetables growing out of the vertical wall between two gardens, why does Rabbi Shimon says that the reach of the upper garden's owner's hand determines to whom the vegetables belong?

In principle, Rabbi Shimon agrees with Rabbi Meir's view that the vegetables belong to the owner of the upper garden because they are growing out of his earth. Rabbi Shimon, however, maintains that the upper owner abandons any vegetables that he cannot reach. Since he would have to go through his neighbor's garden to pick the vegetables and it would be embarrassing to ask his neighbor's permission, it is assumed that he relinquishes them to his neighbor.

They reported Rabbi Shimon's ruling to the Persian King Shapur, and he said in praise of it, "We extend our graciousness to Rabbi Shimon."

Art: A Boy with Vegetables by Major George Henry Mason

Bava Metzia 118 – Two Gardens (Finds)

If there are two gardens, one above the other, and vegetables are growing out of the vertical surface between them, to whom do the vegetables belong? Rabbi Meir says, "They belong to the owner of the higher garden." Rabbi Yehudah says, "They belong to the owner of the lower garden."

Rabbi Meir said, "If the owner of the upper garden wants to take his earth away, there would be no vegetables left!" Rabbi Yehudah said, "If the owner of the lower garden wants to fill his garden with earth, there would be no vegetables there."

Rabbi Shimon said, "Any vegetables that the owner of the higher garden can reach with his hand and take – belong to him. The other vegetables belong to the owner of the lower garden."

Art: Vegetables in a Bowl or The Gardener by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Bava Metzia 117 – The Upper Apartment's Floor Fell In (Finds)

Consider the case of a two-story house, the owner living on the ground floor, and a tenant in the upper story. If part of the floor of the upper apartment fell in – and the owner does not want to repair it – the occupant of the upper apartment may go down and live in the landlord's apartment below until the landlord fixes the upper apartment for him.

What are the circumstances? If the landlord rented "this upper apartment," he would have no further obligation. If he rented "an upper apartment," he could provide another upper apartment. Our ruling is applicable when the landlord says, "I am renting you this upper apartment, which is on top of this lower apartment." With these words, he pledged the lower apartment to support the tenancy of the upper story.

Art: A Balcony by Gustave Caillebotte

Bava Metzia 116 – The Ground and the Upper Floor of a House (Finds)

If two people lived in a two-story house, such as two brothers who inherited their father's house, one taking the ground floor and the other the upper story and the building collapsed, how do we allocate the debris? They divide the wood, the stones, and the earth (used as cement) in proportion to the heights of their respective properties.

To allocate the whole and the broken stones, we determine how each wall collapsed. If it collapsed directly downward, presumably, the lower stones broke, and the rest of the wall fell upon them, so the whole stones were allotted to the owner of the upper story. If the wall was knocked over to the side, presumably, the upper stones broke, and the owner of the ground floor gets the whole ones.

Art: Italian Ruins by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy

Bava Metzia 115 – What May Not be Taken as a Security (Finds)

One who takes a portable mill as a security is liable for taking two utensils, for it is stated, "He shall not take a lower millstone or an upper millstone as a security..." Therefore, even if the lender was warned only once not to take the borrower's mill, he is liable to two sets of lashes.

Furthermore, one is liable for taking any item that the debtor requires for his food preparation because "...he is taking a life as a security."

Art: A Mill by Jean-Victor Bertin

Bava Metzia 114 – Prophet Elijah and Rabba Bar Avuha (Finds)

Rabba Bar Avuha found Elijah, the prophet, standing in a cemetery of idolaters and asked him, "Why is the master, who is a Kohen, standing in a cemetery?"

Elijah answered, "Did you not learn the Order of Purities?" For Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai said, based on "Now you my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are you called man..." - about whom it is said, "...when a man dies in a tent..." and therefore only Jewish graves are impure for a Kohen.

He said to Elijah, "I am not able to properly study the four most essential orders; am I to study the sixth (Purities)? – for I am destitute."

Elijah brought him to the Garden of Eden and told him to collect some leaves. Rabbah understood that he was spending his reward in the World To Come and threw the leaves away. Still, his cloak absorbed the smell, and he sold it for 12,000 golden dinars – and distributed them to his sons-in-law.

Art: The Falling Leaves by Vincent Van Gogh

Bava Metzia 113 - Lender's Right to Take Borrower's Security (Finds)

If the loan fell due, but the borrower did not pay on time, and the lender wants to take the property of the borrower as security until the loan is paid, the borrower has to observe a few rules:

* The lender is prohibited from going into the borrower's house;
* Even if the borrower takes the article into the street, the lender is prohibited from taking it personally. He may obtain an article for security only by going to court;
* The lender has to return an article of security to a borrower who needs it. For example, he may have to return the pillow at night and the plow by day.

Art: The Clubhouse Sitting Room at Balsam Lake, Catskills by Thomas Worthington Whittredge 

Bava Metzia 112 – Delaying Payments for Contractual Work (Finds)

If an employer delays payment for contractual work, where a craftsman agreed to complete a specific task for a fixed sum, does he transgress the prohibition not to hold wages overnight?

This depends on how one views the improvement to the utensil that the craftsman makes. If the craftsman acquires the improvements, he, in effect, sells the owner that portion when he returns the finished product, and the money that the owner owes is not considered wages but a loan.

The prevailing view, however, is that the craftsman does not acquire the improvements and that the payments owed to him are thus wages. Hence, the prohibition against delaying payments applies to contractual work.

Art: Peasants at the Table, El Almuerzo by Diego Rodrigues De Silva y Velasquez

Bava Metzia 111 – Prohibition Again Delaying Payment to an Employee (Finds)

Whether it be the hire of a man, the hire of an animal, or the hire of a utensil – that is, the wages due a man for his labor, or the payment due him for renting his animals or utensils, one is subject to both prohibitions against delaying a payment.

When is this so? When the worker demanded his wage from the employer. But if the worker did not demand his wages from the employer, the employer does not transgress the law. If the employer directed him to a storekeeper or a moneychanger (by arranging an account with them), but the worker was not paid, the employer does not transgress the law.

Art: Flemish Kitchen by Francis Davis Millet

Bava Metzia 110 – Timely Payment of a Hired Worker (Finds)

An employer is prohibited from delaying payment due to his employee: "The wage of a hired worker shall not stay overnight with you until morning." and "On his day shall you pay his hire and the sun shall not set upon him...."

One who is hired for the day and completes his work in the evening collects his payment all night; that is, the entire night constitutes the payment time of the worker. One hired for the night collects all day; that is, the collection time for one who terminates his employment at daybreak is that day.

Art: Female Worker by Kazimir Severinovich Malevich

Bava Metzia 109 – Short-term vs. Long-term Leases (Finds)

If one leases a field from his fellow for just a few years (less than seven), he may not sow it with flax, and he has no rights to the beams of any sycamores (planetrees) growing there.

Although flax is a very profitable crop, it depletes the soil excessively, and it takes up to seven years to recover fully. Planting flax would lead him to return the land in worse condition than he had received it.

This ruling applies only to a tenant farmer, where the landowner receives a fixed payment no matter what the land produces. In the case of a sharecropper, we assume that the landowner agrees to a more intensive use of the land based on the principle "let the land become poor but not the owner."

Art: The Sycamores by John Love

Bava Metzia 108 – The Right of the Adjoining Property Holder (Finds)

An immediate neighbor of a property has the right to first purchase it. An outsider who wants to buy a field can easily find another one, but a neighbor gains significantly from being able to buy an adjoining field. This rule is based on "You shall do what is right and good in the eyes of God," which commands one to go beyond the letter of the law.

If one wants to buy a field and inquires of the neighbor of that field if he can do it, and the neighbor allows it, a formal act of acquisition is still required, or else the neighbor can later claim that had he come to buy the land, he would be asked a higher price, but that he never meant to relinquish his right.

Art: A Village Landscape With Farmers by Pieter The Younger Brueghel

Bava Metzia 107 - Natural Events vs. Luck (Finds)

If a tenant farmer leased a field from his fellow, and the crop was blasted by the wind, which reduced its quality, he may pay his rental out of this crop. If the wheat of that crop was superior, the tenant cannot buy grain of average quality but must give the landowner his payment out of that produce.

Rav once went to a cemetery and used an incantation to discover how every person there died, and he stated that ninety-nine out of a hundred died from an evil eye and only one from natural causes.

Rav Chanina said that everything is in the hands of Heaven except for cold drafts.

In the future, God will remove all illnesses, even the ones mentioned.

Art: Hospital and Cemetery by William Simpson

Bava Metzia 106 – General vs. Localized Calamities (Finds)

If a tenant farmer leased a field from his fellow and locusts ate up the crop, or it was blasted by wind, which blew the kernels out of the ears of grain, if it is a general calamity, he may deduct from his rental. Since the whole area was stricken, his field was considered unfit for crops, and the tenant committed himself to paying full rental only on the assumption that the field would remain suitable for crops for the duration of the lease.

If the loss was localized, the owner can claim it was the farmer's ill fortune, and the farmer may not deduct it from his rental.

Art: Grasshopper and Wheat by Shibata Zeshin

Bava Metzia 105 – Disagreements Between a Tenant and a Field Owner (Finds)

Suppose a tenant farmer leased a field from his fellow but did not want to weed it and said to the landowner, "What concern is it of yours since I am committed to giving you your full rental?". In that case, we do not listen to him, for the landowner can reply, "If your lease expires and you don't renew it, the field will grow weeds for me."

If a sharecropper leases a field from his fellow and it does not produce a substantial crop, he wants to abandon working the field. If there is enough growing in it to produce a heap, he is obligated to care for it. Rabbi Yehudah says, "What kind of limit is a heap? Rather, if there is enough for sowing the field again."

Art: Haystack, Pontoise by Camille Pissarro

Bava Metzia 104 - Calamities in the Field and Laymen's Contracts (Finds)

Suppose one leased a field from his fellow, which had a stream from which it could be conveniently watered or a tree that produced fruit without requiring much work. In that case, the field commands a higher rent. If the spring dried up or the tree was felled, he may not deduct anything from his rent in compensation for his loss. If he mentioned that his reason for renting the fields was the river or the tree – then he may deduct.

If a sharecropper leased a field and left it fallow, they assess how much it was fit to yield, and he must give that amount because a layman's contract usually says, "If I leave it fallow and do not work it properly, I will pay according to the best."

Art: Aven Valley Upstream Of Pont Aven by Paul Gauguin

Bava Metzia 103 - Field Leases (Finds)

There are two arrangements under which fields are leased: sharecropping and tenant farming. A sharecropper pays the owner of the land a fixed percentage of the crops, for example, a half, third, or quarter, and keeps the rest. The tenant farmer pays a fixed amount, usually using the field’s produce, but if it’s not enough, he buys from the market.

If one leases a field from his fellow and they did not agree on the way of cultivating the field, such as cutting or uprooting the crop or whether to plow afterward, they should follow the local custom.

Just as they divide the wine, so they divide the branches and the canes - in the same proportion, and this applies only to sharecropping.

Art: In the Wheat Field b Wlodzimierz Tetmajer

Bava Metzia 102 - Rights and Obligations of a Landlord and his Tenant (Finds)

If one rents a house to his fellow, it is the duty of the tenant to prepare a mezuzah for it, and when the tenant leaves, he should not take the mezuzah away, even to affix it in another house. He can, however, demand compensation from the next resident.

If one rents a house to his fellow for a year, and the year was then proclaimed a leap year, that is, an extra month was added, the tenant need not pay additional rent because of it. If, however, he rented the house to the tenant by the month, and the year was then proclaimed a leap year, the tenant must pay rent for the extra month. The last ruling is obvious and is only taught for the sake of completeness.

Art: Kibbutz Regavim's Abandoned Synagogue by Hayim Shtayer

Bava Metzia 101 - Eviction Notice (Finds)

Suppose one rents a house to his fellow. In that case, he cannot evict the tenant in the winter, i.e., from Succoth until Passover - unless he gives the tenant notice in the summer, at least thirty days before the beginning of Succoth because during winter, rental houses in Israel were hard to find.

In large cities, where there is a perennial housing shortage, a landlord must give twelve months' notice before evicting a tenant.

With regard to stores, both in towns and large cities, a landlord must give twelve months' notice to allow the storeowners to start collecting on the credit they usually extend to their customers.

Art: A House in Winter by Henri Eugene Augustin Le Sidaner

Bava Metzia 100 - Disputes Between Buyer and Seller (Finds)

If one exchanged a cow for a donkey in a barter exchange and the cow calved, and the seller says that the cow calved before he sold her, and therefore the offspring is his, and the buyer says that it calved after the sale, and the calf is his - they divide the value of the calf.

But let’s see in whose possession the calf is now - and the burden of proof would be on the other side! - The cow is in the meadow. But let us leave it with the original owner - the seller! This ruling is authored by Sumchos, who always divides the money whose ownership is in doubt.

Art: Weaning the Calves by Rosa Bonheur

Bava Metzia 99 – Responsibility in Transit (Finds)

If one was borrowing a cow and the lender sent it to him with his son, slave, or agent – or with the son, the slave, or the agent of the borrower – and the cow died naturally in transit, the borrower is not liable. Even the borrower's worker does not become an agent to assume responsibility for the cow but only to transport it safely.

If, however, the borrower said to the lender, "Send me the cow with my son (my slave, my agent)" or "with your son (your slave, your agent)" and the cow died naturally in transit, the borrower is liable – not through the law of agency, but through the law of a guarantor: in consideration of the lender sending the cow on his say-so, the borrower assumes responsibility for any mishap that befalls the animal on the way.

Art: Cows Resting by Rosa Bonheur

Bava Metzia 98 - Cow Half-Borrowed, Half-Rented (Finds)

A man borrowed a cow for half a day and rented it for the other half a day, and the cow died. The lender claims, "It died while being borrowed," asking the borrower to be liable, but the borrower says, "I do not know." In this case, the borrower is liable.

Can we disprove it from Rav Nachman's ruling? If one claims to another, "You owe me a maneh (100 zuz), and the other one says, "I do not know if I owe you"" the defendant is NOT liable. But in the first ruling, he is!

Rav Nachman will answer that the first ruling is talking about two cows, and about one of them, the borrower agrees to his liability. This makes it a case of the borrower admitting in part, so that he has to swear, but not knowing about the second claim, he can't swear and thus has to pay.

Art: The Cowshed by Carl Larsson