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Week 108 - Tuesday - 18 December 2001

BAVA BATRA: CHAPTER 6: MISHNAH 3

One who sells wine to his fellow and it became sour - is not responsible; and if it was known that his wine sours, it is an erroneous sale. And if he said to him: I am selling you spiced wine - he must supply him up to Shavuot. And old - of the previous year. And aged - of three years.

Kehati

One who sells wine to his fellow and it became sour - after the buyer poured it into his own vessels (Gemara) is not responsible - The seller has no responsibility to refund the buyer's money, for he can claim that as at the time of sale it was wine, it was the buyer's vessel that soured the wine. The Gemara notes that if the wine remained in the seller's vessel, if at the time of sale the buyer specified he intended to use the wine for cooking purposes - the implication being that it would be used up only slowly - and it soured, he may return it. If, however, the buyer made no such stipulation at the time of the sale and the wine soured, he cannot return it, for the seller can claim that he assumed the wine was to be used for drinking and would not be kept for any length of time.

And if it was known that his wine sours - and the buyer told the seller that he wanted the wine for cooking purposes, i.e., he wanted to keep it for some time, then even if the buyer poured the wine into his own vessel, it is an erroneous sale - for the seller should have informed the buyer that this particular wine does not keep long. And if he said to him - If the seller said to the buyer: I am selling you spiced wine - wine mixed with spices that normally lasts until the summer, he must supply him up to Shavuot - the seller must supply wine that will remain good until Shavuot, for thereafter the wine is liable to be spoiled by the heat of the summer. And old - If the seller told the buyer that he was selling him old wine, of the previous year - the wine must be at least of the previous year.

And aged - If the seller told the buyer he was selling him aged wine, of three years - The wine must be at least of the year before the previous year, which, including the present year, adds up to three years (Rashbam); and this wine must remain until at least Sukkot without souring, for the definition of "aged" is that the wine was aged for three full years (baraita in the Gemara; and commentators).

BAVA BATRA: CHAPTER 6: MISHNAH 4

One who sells a site to his fellow to build him a house, and so, too, one who accepts from his fellow to build him a wedding house for his son or a widow's house for his daughter - he builds four litra by six; so R. Akiva. R. Yishmael says, This is a cattle stall; one who wishes to make a cattle stall builds four litra by six; a small house - six by eight; large - eight by ten; a hall - ten by ten. Its height is as half its length and as half its breadth. Evidence of this: the Sanctuary. R. Shimon b. Gamliel says: All is as the building of the Sanctuary.

Kehati

One who sells a site to his fellow - to build him a house for various purposes, as outlined below, and so, too, one who accepts from his fellow to build him - if a person contracts to build for another, a wedding house for his son - A house near his own, where his son can live after he marries, or a widow's house for his daughter - a place where his widowed daughter can live. The Talmud explains that the reason the mishnah did not state "a wedding house for his son and his daughter" is to teach us that it is not normal for a son-in-law to live with his parents-in-law. He builds - The person himself or his contractor constructs a building of four amot by six - for that is the size of the standard wedding or widow's house; so R. Akiva. R. Yishmael says: This is a cattle stall - and is not a home for humans, for one who wishes to make a cattle stall builds four amot by six - whereas a house must be larger.

Others explain (in the Gemara) that R. Akiva agrees with R. Yishmael that a cattle stall is four by six litra, but nevertheless holds that a small house - such as one customarily built for newlyweds or for a widow - may have the same dimensions; a small house - If a person tells another to build him a house, without specifying the size, where the house is not close by an existing one (such as in the case of newlyweds or widows), the contractor has the right to build the smallest normal home, which is six by eight - litra; large - If the person specifies he wants a large house, the contractor constructs one which is eight by ten - litra; and if the contractor was commissioned to build a hall - its dimensions are ten by ten - litra. Its height - The height of each building is as half its length and as half its breadth - Half the sum of the building's length and breadth, so that in a small house this would be seven litra, in a large house nine, and in a hall ten litra. Evidence of this: the Sanctuary - The Sanctuary within Solomon's Temple was forty litra long and twenty litra broad, and its height was thirty litra, this being half the sum of the length and breadth.

Rabban Shimon b. Gamliel says: All is as the building of the Sanctuary - here are those in the Gemara who take this to mean that the statement regarding the height being half the sum of the length and breadth is the opinion of Rabban Shimon b. Gamliel, who deduces this from the Sanctuary; others take this to mean that R. Shimon b. Gamliel disagrees with the First Tanna, exclaiming in surprise, "Is all as the building of the Sanctuary?" Instead, he holds that the height of a building is dictated by local custom.

The above interpretation of the mishnah is in accordance with Rashbam and Ravad. Rambam, Hameiri, and Tur, though, explain it differently, viz. One who sells a site to his fellow to build him a house without specifying further, "and so, too, one who accepts from his fellow to build him a wedding house for his son or a widow's house for his daughter - builds four litra by six; so R. Akiva." I.e., according to R. Akiva, the minimal size of an unspecified house and a wedding or widow's house is four litra by six. R. Yishmael says: This is a cattle stall; for (even according to R. Akiva) one who wishes to make a cattle stall builds four litra by six. That being the case, a small house must be six by eight. The halakhah to this point does not follow R. Yishmael, but all agree in the rest of the mishnah.

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