Study Bava Batra folio 143B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ואם הביא חמשים בכלי אחד וחמשים בכלי אחד – יצא. אם הביא אין – לכתחלה לא; ואי סלקא דעתך כל כי האי גוונא פלגא ופלגא הוא, אפילו לכתחלה נמי!
And if he brought 50-tenths in one vessel and 50 in one vessel, he fulfilled his obligation. One can infer from the baraita that after the fact, if he had brought 50-tenths in each vessel, yes, he fulfilled his obligation, but he may not do so ab initio. And if it should enter your mind to say that every case like this is divided half and half, it should be permitted to divide the meal-offering into equal halves even ab initio.
הכי השתא?! התם, אנן סהדי דהאי גברא מעיקרא – לקרבן גדול קא מכוין, והאי דקאמר בשני כלים – דידע דלא אפשר לאתויי בכלי אחד; כמה דאפשר לאיתויי מייתינן.
The Talmud dismisses R' Zeira’s objection: How can these cases be compared? There, in the case of the meal-offering, it is clear to us that this person initially intended to bring a large offering, and the reason that he said he will bring the offering in two vessels was that he knew that it is not possible to bring the entire offering in a single vessel. Therefore, we bring, in a single vessel, as much as it is possible to bring, which is 60-tenths. In any other case it is possible that the division should be into two equal portions.
והלכתא כוותיה דרב יוסף בשדה, ענין ומחצה.
The Talmud concludes: And the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Rav Yosef in 3 matters where he disagreed with Rabba: In the matter of dividing a field between brothers (see 12b); in the matter of whether certain actions are limited by the court session or by the topic of discussion in the court (see 114a); and in the matter of half, i.e., this matter, whether an unspecified division into two parts is divided into two equal halves.