Study Bava Batra folio 2A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
השותפין שרצו לעשות מחיצה בחצר – בונין את הכותל באמצע. מקום שנהגו לבנות גויל, גזית, כפיסין, לבינין – בונין; הכל כמנהג המדינה.
Mishnah: Partners who wished to make a partition [meḥitza] in a jointly owned courtyard build the wall for the partition in the middle of the courtyard. What is this wall fashioned from? In a place where it is customary to build such a wall with non-chiseled stone [gevil], or chiseled stone [gazit], or small bricks [kefisin], or large bricks [leveinim], they must build the wall with that material. Everything is in accordance with the regional custom.
גויל – זה נותן שלשה טפחים, וזה נותן שלשה טפחים. בגזית – זה נותן טפחיים ומחצה וזה נותן טפחיים ומחצה. בכפיסין – זה נותן טפחיים וזה נותן טפחיים. בלבינין – זה נותן טפח ומחצה וזה נותן טפח ומחצה. לפיכך, אם נפל הכותל – המקום והאבנים של שניהם.
If they build the wall with non-chiseled stone, this partner provides 3 handbreadths of his portion of the courtyard and that partner provides 3 handbreadths, since the thickness of such a wall is 6 handbreadths. If they build the wall with chiseled stone, this partner provides 2½ handbreadths and that partner provides 2½ handbreadths, since such a wall is 5 handbreadths thick. If they build the wall with small bricks, this one provides two handbreadths and that one provides two handbreadths, since the thickness of such a wall is 4 handbreadths. If they build with large bricks, this one provides 1½ handbreadths and that one provides 1½ handbreadths, since the thickness of such a wall is 3 handbreadths. Therefore, if the wall later falls, the assumption is that the space where the wall stood and the stones belong to both of them, to be divided equally.
וכן בגינה – מקום שנהגו לגדור – מחייבין אותו. אבל בבקעה – מקום שנהגו שלא לגדור – אין מחייבין אותו,
And similarly with regard to a garden, in a place where it is customary to build a partition in the middle of a garden jointly owned by two people, and one of them wishes to build such a partition, the court obligates his neighbor to join in building the partition. But with regard to an expanse of fields [babbika], in a place where it is customary not to build a partition between two people’s fields, and one person wishes to build a partition between his field and that of his neighbor, the court does not obligate his neighbor to build such a partition.