Study Bava Batra folio 18B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ואי דלא סמיך, היכי משכחת לה? אמר רב פפא: בלוקח.
And if one may not place an item that might cause damage close to his neighbor’s boundary, how can you find a case where each neighbor is damaging the property of the other? Rav Pappa says: This is referring to a buyer who purchased part of his neighbor’s field, and it contains a substance or items that might cause damage, e.g., the water in which flax is steeped or mustard. In the other section of the field the neighbor retained an item or substance that could be damaged. In this manner, it is possible for the item that causes damage to be found near the boundary of the neighbor without one having violated the ruling of the Mishnah.
אי בלוקח, מאי טעמא דרבנן? ועוד, מאי טעמא דרבי יוסי? אפילו משרה וירקא נמי!
The Talmud asks: If this is referring to a buyer, what is the reason of the Rabbis, who say that the neighbor can demand that the buyer distance that which causes damage? After all, he has not acted improperly. And furthermore, what is the reason of R' Yosei for disagreeing only in the case of the mustard and the bees? Even the case of water in which flax is steeped and vegetables is also subject to the same reasoning: Why should he have to distance his water, considering that he did not act improperly?
אמר רבינא: קא סברי רבנן: על המזיק להרחיק את עצמו.
Ravina said that the explanation is as follows: The Rabbis hold that the responsibility falls on the one who causes damage to distance himself. The one who has the potential to cause damage must act to prevent the damage from occurring. This is the halakha even if his initial placement was done in accordance with halakha, as in the case where one bought part of a field.