Study Bava Batra folio 22B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
הבא לסמוך, לא יסמוך אלא אם כן הרחיק ממנו ארבע אמות. מתקיף לה רבא: והא ״מי שהיה כותלו סמוך לכותל חבירו״ קתני!
One who comes to place a wall close to his neighbor’s wall may place that wall close to the neighbor’s wall only if he distances his wall 4 cubits from the existing wall. Accordingly, the Mishnah is discussing one constructing a wall close to his neighbor’s wall the first time. Rava objects to this explanation: But the Mishnah teaches: One whose wall was near the wall of another, which indicates that there had already been a wall there.
אלא אמר רבא, הכי קתני: מי שהיה כותלו סמוך לכותל חבירו ברחוק ארבע אמות, ונפל, לא יסמוך לו כותל אחר – אלא אם כן הרחיק ממנו ארבע אמות. מאי טעמא? דדוושא דהכא מעלי להתם.
Rather, Rava said that this is what the Mishnah is teaching: In a case of one whose wall was near the wall of another at a distance of 4 cubits and it fell, he may not place another wall close to his neighbor’s wall unless he distances the wall 4 cubits from it. What is the reason that this distance must be observed? The reason is that walking here benefits there, i.e., the ground is strengthened by people walking on the land in the area between the walls.
אמר רב: לא שנו אלא כותל גינה, אבל כותל חצר – אם בא לסמוך, סומך. רבי אושעיא אומר: אחד כותל גינה ואחד כותל חצר – אם בא לסמוך, אינו סומך.
Rav says: They taught that one must leave a space of 4 cubits between his wall and that of his neighbor only if he builds it alongside the wall of his neighbor’s garden, where people do not usually walk due to the seeds. But with regard to the wall of a courtyard, where people walk, if he comes to place his wall close by, he may place it close by. By contrast, R' Oshaya says: With regard to both the wall of a garden and the wall of a courtyard, if one comes to place his wall close by, he may not place his wall close by.