Study Bava Batra folio 138A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
כאן בצווח מעיקרא, כאן בשותק מעיקרא ולבסוף צווח.
Here, in R' Yoḥanan’s statement, it is a case where he is shouting in protest at the outset. As soon as he is given the deed of gift he states that he does not want it. In this case, he does not receive the property. There, in Shmuel’s statement, it is a case where he is initially silent when he receives the deed of gift, and is ultimately shouting in protest that he does not want it. In this case he acquires the gift before he protests, so it is his.
אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק: זיכה לו על ידי אחר, ושתק ולבסוף צווח – באנו למחלוקת רבן שמעון בן גמליאל ורבנן,
Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak says that if the owner transfers ownership of the property to him through another person, who performs an act of acquisition for this other party in his presence, and he was initially silent, i.e., when the act of acquisition is performed, but ultimately shouted in protest when the property is actually given to him, we have arrived at the dispute between Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and the Rabbis.
דתניא: הכותב נכסיו לאחר, והיו בהן עבדים, ואמר הלה: ״אי אפשי בהן״; אם היה רבן שני כהן – הרי אלו אוכלין בתרומה. רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר: כיון שאמר הלה: ״אי אפשי בהן״ – כבר זכו בהן יורשין.
This is as it is taught in a baraita (Tosefta 8:1): If one wrote a document granting his property to another, and there were slaves among his property, and the other person said: I do not want them, if their second master, i.e., the recipient, was a priest, they partake of teruma, the portion of the produce designated for the priest, as his protest is ignored. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Once the other person said: I do not want them, the giver or his heirs have already acquired them, and they are the slaves’ owners.