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Week 108 - Sunday - 16 December 2001

BAVA BATRA: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 10

The wholesaler cleans his measures once every thirty days, and the householder once every twelve months. R. Shimon b. Gamliel says: The reverse is the case. The storekeeper cleans his measures twice a week, and polishes his measures once a week, and he cleans his scales for each weighing.

Kehati

It states in the Torah (Lev. 19:36), Just scales, just stones, a just ephah and a just him you shall have. From this we learn that it is a positive mitzvah to have correct weights and measures, and to be exact when using them (Hil. Genevah 8:1). This mishnah teaches that a person who sells wine, oil, or the like, must clean his measures at fixed times from the leftovers that stick to the sides and edges of the measures, for these leftovers reduce the quantity the buyer receives. There are three groups who sell merchandise a) a householder, who produces wheat, wine, or oil from his own crops and sells these, leaving enough for his own needs and selling the surplus to wholesalers; b) a wholesaler, who buys from householders and sells to storekeepers; c) a storekeeper, who sells to individuals. Each group has a set time when his measures are to be cleaned.

The wholesaler - who sells to storekeepers, as mentioned above, cleans his measures - This refers to those utensils used for measuring liquids such as wine or oil, as discussed in the following mishnah, once every thirty days - for the leftovers become encrusted on the measure and decrease the amount buyers receive; and the householder - who sells to wholesalers, but uses his measures only rarely, once every twelve months - he must clean his measures once a year;

R. Shimon b. Gamliel says: the reverse is the case - The wholesaler must clean his measures once a year, as he uses his measures so often that there is little chance of encrustation, whereas with the householder, who uses the measures infrequently, there is a greater chance that the leftovers will become encrusted, so that he must clean his measures every thirty days (Rashbam). Some explain R. Shimon b. Gamliel's reason as being that the householder sells to only one person - the wholesaler - and therefore the wholesaler may suffer a considerable loss, while the wholesaler sells to many storekeepers, so that the loss to each individual is negligible, and as storekeepers will be selling the goods at a profit, they do not mind this slight loss (Hameiri). However, the halakhah follows the First Tanna (Hil. Genevah 8:18).

The storekeeper cleans his measures twice a week - for as he is not required to wait for the last three drops to drain out, as we saw in mishnah 8 above, the remnants remain clinging to the walls of the measure; and even R. Shimon b. Gamliel agrees here (Rashbam). Others explain the reason for the frequency with which the storekeeper must clean his measures by the fact that he has more frequent sales than either the householder or the wholesaler, and this is the opinion of the First Tanna only quoted above (Rashbam quoting his teachers),and polished his measures once a week - in addition to the twice-weekly cleaning, the measures used for liquids must be polished once a week, and he cleans his scales for each weighing and weighing - each time he weighs, he must wipe them for as they have receptacles, much clings to them (Rashbam; Hameiri; Tiferet Yisrael); Rambam writes that the reason is so that the vessel should not rust (Hil. Genevah 8:18).

BAVA BATRA: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 11

Said R. Shimon b. Gamliel: When is this so? With liquid, but with dry he need not. And he must overweigh for him a tefah. If he was weighing for him exactly - he gives him his additions: one in ten with liquid, and one in twenty with dry. A place where they were accustomed to measure with small, he may not measure with large; with large, he may not measure with small. To smooth - he may not heap. To heap - he may not smooth.

Kehati

R. Shimon b. Gamliel said: When is this so - When must the weights and measures be cleaned? - with liquid - when one measures liquid or moist items, such as wine, oil, or meat, but with dry he need not - but this does not apply when one weighs something dry, such as fruit, because nothing clings to the measure. And he must overweigh for him a tefah - The seller must allow the side of the balance scale carrying the produce being sold, to sink a tefah lower than the side carrying the weights. The commentators explain that this is only when the amount bought weighs a litra, but when the amount bought weighs less, one need not overweigh a tefah (Rashbam; Bartenura; see also Tiferet Yisrael). The Gemara states that the scales must be allowed to tip in this fashion only if such is the local custom.

If he was weighing for him exactly - If the balance scales are evenly balanced, e.g., in those places where there is no custom to tip them in favor of the buyer, he gives him his additions - the seller must add an amount beyond the exact measure, this added amount being one in ten with liquid - The Gemara explains that this means one tenth measure for every ten measures of liquid, thus for a person buying ten litras of a liquid, the seller must add one tenth of a litra, or one per cent of the total, and one in twenty with dry - With dry commodities, the Gemara explains one must add one twentieth of a single measure for every twenty measures bought, or one four-hundredth of the total bought. Others interpret this to mean one twentieth for every ten measures, or one two-hundredth of the total (Rabbeinu Gershon; Hameiri). The Gemara deduces the rule of adding to the actual amount sold from the verse (Deut. 25:15), which states, "A complete and just stone shall you have." The word 'just" (tzedek) is superfluous and from this the Sages learned that even though one has given a fair amount by weight, he should act charitably (associating tzedek with tzedakah) from his own and a place where they were accustomed to measure with small - i.e., small measurements of weight, such as a kab, he may not measure with large - The seller may not use a large measure, such as a se'ah, for the buyer loses, receiving the added "overweight 'tefah’” of the scale only once. Similarly, if the custom is with large, he may not measure with small - for here the seller would lose. To smooth - If the custom is to use level rather than heaped measures, he may not heap - even if the buyer is willing to pay extra for this; similarly, if the custom is to heap - he may not smooth - even if he is willing to accept less money for it. In either case, one must follow local custom, for whenever there is a change from the local custom, we are afraid that someone will either be tricked or cheated.

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