Study Bava Batra folio 88B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
וחייב להכריע לו טפח. היה שוקל לו עין בעין, נותן לו גירומין. אחד לעשרה בלח, ואחד לעשרים ביבש.
And before adding the weights and merchandise the seller is obligated to let the pans of the scale that will hold the merchandise tilt an extra handbreadth for the buyer by adding a weight to that side. If the seller weighed for him exactly, i.e., with the scales equally balanced initially, instead of allowing the scales to tilt an extra handbreadth, he must give the buyer additional amounts [geirumin], an additional 1/10th in the case of liquids sold by weight, and an additional 1/20th in the case of dry goods.
מקום שנהגו למוד בדקה – לא ימוד בגסה. בגסה – לא ימוד בדקה. למחוק – לא יגדוש. לגדוש – לא ימחוק.
The Mishnah continues to discuss the correct method of weighing: In a place where they were accustomed to measure merchandise in several stages with a small measuring vessel, one may not measure all the items at once with a single large measuring vessel. In a place where they measure with one large measuring vessel, one may not measure with several small measuring vessels. In a place where the custom is to level the top of the measuring vessel to remove substances heaped above its edges, one may not heap it, and where the custom is to heap it, one may not level it.
גמ׳ מנהני מילי? אמר ריש לקיש, דאמר קרא: ״אבן שלמה וצדק״ – צדק משלך ותן לו. אי הכי, אימא סיפא: היה שוקל לו עין בעין – נותן לו גירומין. ואי הכרעה דאורייתא, היכי יהיב ליה עין בעין?
Talmud: The Talmud asks: From where are these matters, that the seller must initially let the scales tilt an extra handbreadth, derived? Reish Lakish said: The source is that the verse states that one should have: “A perfect and just [tzedek] weight” (Deuteronomy 25:15), which is interpreted as an instruction to the seller: Be righteous [tzaddek] with that which is yours and give it to the buyer. The Talmud asks: If that is so, say the latter clause: If the seller weighed for him exactly, he gives the buyer additional amounts. But if letting the scales tilt is obligatory by Torah law, how can he originally give him by weighing exactly?