Study Bava Batra folio 85B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מאי, לאו ברשות הרבים ממש? לא; סימטא. והא דומיא דחצר שאינה של שניהם קתני!
What, is it not stating that a buyer’s vessels effect acquisition of items on his behalf even in the actual public domain, which contradicts Rav Pappa’s explanation? The Talmud answers: No, the baraita is referring to an alleyway, not the actual public domain. The Talmud asks: How can this be what the baraita means? But the baraita teaches that it is similar to a courtyard that does not belong to either of them, i.e., a location to which neither of them have any rights, whereas they both have some rights in an alleyway. Consequently, this must be referring to the actual public domain, not an alleyway.
מאי ״חצר שאינה של שניהם״ נמי – דלא דהאי כולה ולא דהאי כולה; אלא דתרוייהו.
The Talmud answers: What is the meaning of the phrase: A courtyard that does not belong to either of them? It also refers to shared property, specifically a courtyard shared by partners, which does not belong to this one entirely and does not belong to that one entirely, but rather it is the property of both of them. Consequently, this courtyard is comparable to an alleyway.
בעא מיניה רב ששת מרב הונא: כליו של לוקח ברשות מוכר – קנה לוקח, או לא? אמר ליה, תניתוה: זרקו לה לתוך חיקה או לתוך קלתה – הרי זו מגורשת.
Rav Sheshet raises a dilemma before Rav Huna: If the vessels of the buyer are in the domain of the seller, does the buyer acquire the merchandise once it is placed in his vessels or not? Rav Huna said to him: You learned the answer already in a Mishnah (Gittin 77a): A wife is divorced when her husband hands her a bill of divorce or places it in a manner that is considered equivalent to handing it to her, e.g., placing in her courtyard. Accordingly, if the husband threw the bill of divorce to her into her lap or into her basket [kaltah], this woman is divorced even if she was in her husband’s domain at that time. By the same token, even if the buyer’s vessels are in the domain of the seller, they effect acquisition of the sold items on his behalf.