Bava Batra 97A

Study Bava Batra folio 97A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.

Text Excerpt

המתמד, ונתן מים במדה, ומצא כדי מדתו ⁠– פטור, ורבי יהודה מחייב. עד כאן לא פליגי אלא בכדי מדתו, אבל ביותר מכדי מדתו ⁠– לא פליגי!

In the case of one who produces tamad, a beverage made by steeping grape pomace in water, and he placed a measured amount of water into a container together with the pomace, and after removing the pomace he found that the volume of the tamad produced was equivalent to the amount of water used, one is exempt from the requirement to tithe the tamad, even though the pomace came from grapes that had not been tithed. And R' Yehuda deems one liable to tithe the tamad. The Talmud explains the difficulty posed by this Mishnah: It would appear that they disagree only with regard to a case where the volume of the tamad produced was equivalent to the amount of water used, but in a case where the volume of the tamad produced was greater than the amount of water used, they do not disagree; rather, they all agree that it must be tithed because it is regarded as wine. This would appear to contradict Rava’s explanation.

הוא הדין דאפילו ביותר מכדי מדתו פליגי; והאי דקא מיפלגי בכדי מדתו, להודיעך כחו דרבי יהודה.

The Talmud resolves the difficulty: Actually, the same is true in that they would disagree even where the volume of the tamad produced was greater than the amount of water used. And the reason that the Mishnah records only that they disagree about a case where the volume of the tamad produced was equivalent to the amount of water used is in order to convey to you the far-reaching nature of the opinion of R' Yehuda, who holds that one is liable to tithe the tamad even in this case.

Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.