Study Bava Batra folio 144A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אודייני – השכר לאמצע. והא אודייני, דמחמת עצמו הוא! שאני אודייני – דלנטירותא הוא דעבידא, ואפילו קטנים נמי מצו מנטרי לה.
a mortar [udaini], which people pay to use, the rent goes to the middle? But isn’t the profit accruing from a mortar considered profit accruing on his, i.e., the adult son’s, own account, as the adult son must supervise its operation, and there is no outlay from the property? The Talmud dismisses this objection: A mortar is different, as for its typical use it can suffice with supervision, and even minors are able to supervise its use. Since the adults do not contribute anything more than the minors, they cannot demand a greater share of the profits.
אמרו ״ראו מה שהניח אבא, הרי אנו עושין ואוכלין״ – השביחו לעצמן. רב ספרא שבק אבוה זוזי. שקלינהו, עבד בהו עיסקא. אתו אחי, תבעוהו בדינא קמיה דרבא; אמר להו: רב ספרא גברא רבה הוא, לא שביק גירסיה וטרח לאחריני.
§ The Mishnah teaches: If the adult sons said from the outset: See that which our father left behind; we are going to engage in business with our share of the property and profit from it, then they enhanced the property for themselves. The Talmud relates: Rav Safra’s father left him dinars. Rav Safra took them and entered into a business venture with them. His brothers came and charged him in a court of law before Rava, claiming their share of the profits. Rava said to them: Rav Safra is a great man; he does not abandon his studies and toil for others. It is therefore clear that if he invested the money, it was for his own profit, even if he did not explicitly declare so at the outset.
האשה שהשביחה את הנכסים – השביחה לאמצע. אשה בנכסי יתמי מאי עבידתה? אמר רבי ירמיה: באשה יורשת.
§ The Mishnah teaches: With regard to a wife who enhanced the property of her deceased husband, she enhanced it so that the profit goes to the middle. The Talmud asks: What is the deceased’s wife doing with the orphans’ property? What rights does she have to the property? Rav Yirmeya said: The Mishnah is referring to a wife who is an heiress, e.g., if she were the daughter of her husband’s brother, and both brothers died without leaving sons, in which case she inherits in her father’s stead.