Study Bava Metzia folio 100A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מתני׳ המחליף פרה בחמור וילדה, וכן המוכר שפחתו וילדה, זה אומר: עד שלא מכרתי, וזה אומר: משלקחתי – יחלוקו.
Mishnah: With regard to one who exchanges a cow for a donkey, such that by virtue of the cow owner’s act of acquisition on the donkey, the donkey’s erstwhile owner simultaneously acquires the cow, wherever it happens to be located, and afterward the cow is found to have calved; and similarly, with regard to one who sells his Canaanite female slave, with the acquisition effected by the buyer giving him money, and afterward she is found to have given birth to a child, who will be a slave belonging to his mother’s master, at times it is uncertain whether the offspring was born before or after the transaction. If this seller says: The birth occurred before I sold the cow or female slave, and so the offspring belongs to me, and that buyer says: The birth occurred after I purchased the cow or female slave, and so the offspring belongs to me, they divide the value of the offspring between them.
היו לו שני עבדים, אחד גדול ואחד קטן, וכן שתי שדות, אחת גדולה ואחת קטנה.
The Mishnah continues: There is a case of one who had two Canaanite slaves, one large, worth more on the slave market, and one small, worth less on the slave market, and similarly, one who had two fields, one large and one small. He sold one of them, and there was a dispute between the buyer and the seller concerning which one was sold.
הלוקח אומר: גדול לקחתי, והלה אומר: איני יודע – זכה בגדול.
If the buyer says: I purchased the large one, and the other one, i.e., the seller, says: I do not know which I sold; the buyer is entitled to take the large one.