Study Bava Kamma folio 23A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
בנזקי ממונו, וסיים בנזקי גופו; לומר לך: אשו משום חציו.
with a reference to damage caused by one’s possessions, as it is written: “If fire breaks out,” indicating that his responsibility for the fire is the same as his responsibility for any of his possessions that cause damage, and it concludes with a reference to damage caused by one’s body, as the verse refers to the person by calling him “the one who ignited the fire,” telling you that his liability for the damage caused by his fire is due to its similarity to his arrows.
אמר רבא, קשיא ליה לאביי: למאן דאמר אשו משום חציו, טמון באש דפטר רחמנא – היכי משכחת לה?
Rava said that Abaye raised a difficulty: According to the one who says that one’s liability for the damage caused by his fire is due to its similarity to his arrows, how can you find that God exempted one from liability for concealed items damaged by a fire? If one caused damage by shooting an arrow, he would be equally liable for damaging both exposed and concealed items. Consequently, if one’s liability for the damage caused by his fire is due to its similarity to his arrows, he should similarly be liable for concealed items damaged by a fire.
וניחא ליה: כגון שנפלה דליקה לאותו חצר, ונפלה גדר שלא מחמת דליקה, והלכה והדליקה והזיקה בחצר אחרת. דהתם – כלו ליה חציו.
And it was satisfactory for him, i.e., Abaye resolved the difficulty. He explained that the exemption from liability for concealed items damaged by a fire applies in a case where a fire broke out in that same courtyard, and afterward the fence separating this courtyard from the neighbor’s courtyard collapsed, but not due to the fire, and therefore the fire spread and ignited items and caused damage in another courtyard. In such a circumstance he would be exempt because there, in this case, it is as if his arrows were depleted, i.e., he bears responsibility for the fire that he had started, which initially was confined to his courtyard alone. The fire that spread to the neighboring courtyard is not similar to his arrows, and therefore he is exempt.