Study Bava Batra folio 83B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
בעי רב אשי: בור, מהו שתפסיק? אמת המים, מהו שתפסיק? רשות הרבים מהו? ריכבא דדיקלי מהו? תיקו.
Rav Ashi raises a dilemma: In the case of a pit situated between the trees, what is the halakha with regard to the possibility that it divides between the trees, and therefore the owner of the trees does not acquire the ground? Similarly, in the case of a stream of water, what is the halakha with regard to the possibility that it divides between the trees? With regard to the public thoroughfare that divides between trees, what is the halakha? Finally, in the case of a line of palm trees, what is the halakha? No answer is found for these problems, and the Talmud states that the dilemmas should stand unresolved.
בעא מיניה הלל מרבי: עלה ארז ביניהן, מהו? ״עלה״?! ברשותא דידיה נפק! אלא ״היה ארז ביניהן, מהו?״ אמר ליה: קנה וקנה.
Hillel raises a dilemma before R' Yehuda HaNasi: If a cedar grew between the 3 trees that one bought, what is the halakha? The Talmud asks: If it grew, then it emerged in his domain, as he already owns the ground, and therefore it is obvious that the cedar belongs to him. Rather, the dilemma is as follows: If, when one bought 3 trees, there already was a cedar between them, what is the halakha? Is it considered a division between the 3 trees? R' Yehuda HaNasi said to him: Since he bought the trees, he has thereby acquired the cedar and acquired the land between them.
כיצד הן עומדים? רב אמר: כשורה, ושמואל אמר: כחצובא. מאן דאמר כשורה – כל שכן כחצובא; ומאן דאמר כחצובא – אבל כשורה לא, מאי טעמא? משום דמיזדרע בינתייהו.
The Talmud asks: In what manner must the 3 trees be positioned for the buyer to acquire the ground between them? Rav says: They may be planted in a straight line, and Shmuel says: They must be planted in the form of a tripod. The Talmud notes: According to the one who says that the trees may be positioned in a straight line, all the more so one acquires the ground when the trees are planted in the form of a tripod. But according to the one who says they must be positioned in a tripod, the buyer acquires the ground only in this case; but if the trees were planted in a straight line, he does not acquire the ground. What is the reason? It is because when the trees are planted in the form of a straight line one can sow between them, and therefore the seller would not relinquish his right to the ground between the trees.