Study Bava Batra folio 24B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
דשפוכאי – ישראל נינהו. והני מילי ברברבי, אבל זוטרי – אימור מעוברי דרכים נפול. ואי איכא רברבי בהדייהו – אימור באברורי הוה מנחי.
of those who pour wine from jugs into jugs are Jews, and therefore it is reasonable that the wine belongs to a Jew. The Talmud comments: And this matter applies only to large jugs. But if they were small jugs, one can say that they were dropped by travelers, most of whom are non-Jews, and therefore the jugs of wine are forbidden. And if there are large jugs among the found jugs, say that they all belong to Jews, as travelers do not usually carry large jugs; it can be assumed that the small ones were placed to balance the donkey’s load, and the jugs all fell together.
מתני׳ מרחיקין את האילן מן העיר עשרים וחמש אמה, ובחרוב ובשקמה – חמשים אמה. אבא שאול אומר: כל אילן סרק חמשים אמה. ואם העיר קדמה – קוצץ, ואינו נותן דמים; ואם אילן קדם – קוצץ, ונותן דמים; ספק זה קדם וספק זה קדם – קוצץ, ואינו נותן דמים.
Mishnah: One must distance a tree 25 cubits from the city, and in the cases of a carob tree and of a sycamore tree, which have a great many branches, they must be distanced 50 cubits. Abba Shaul says: Every barren tree must be distanced 50 cubits. And if the city preceded the tree, as one later planted the tree alongside the city, he cuts down the tree, and the city does not give money to the tree’s owner in compensation. And if the tree preceded the city, which expanded after one planted the tree until it reached the tree, he cuts down the tree and the city gives money to its owner. If it is uncertain whether this one was first or that one was first, he cuts down the tree and the city does not give money.
גמ׳ מאי טעמא? אמר עולא: משום נויי העיר. ותיפוק ליה דאין עושין שדה מגרש, ולא מגרש שדה!
Talmud: The Talmud asks: What is the reason that one must distance a tree from a city? Ulla says: It is due to the beauty of the city, as it is unattractive for a city’s walls to be obscured by tree branches. The Talmud suggests: And let him derive this halakha from the statement in tractate Arakhin (33b) that one may neither convert a field of a city into an open area surrounding the city, nor may one convert an open area into a field, as these have fixed places and measurements (see Numbers 35:1–8). If one plants trees in a city’s open area, he thereby turns the open area into a field.