Study Bava Metzia folio 116B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מתני׳ הבית והעלייה של שנים, שנפלו – שניהם חולקין בעצים ובאבנים ובעפר. ורואין אלו אבנים העשויות להשתבר. אם היה אחד מהן מכיר מקצת אבניו – נוטלן, ועולות לו מן החשבון.
Mishnah: In the case of the house and the upper story belonging to two people, i.e., the lower story was owned by one individual, while the upper story belonged to someone else, that collapsed, the two of them divide the timber and the stones and the earth of the collapsed structure. And the court considers which stones were likely to break, those of the lower or upper story, and gives those broken stones to the one who presumably owned them. If one of them recognized some of his stones he may take them for himself, and they count toward his amount of stones, and the other party takes other stones accordingly. They do not divide the remaining stones equally.
גמ׳ מדקתני רואין – מכלל דאיכא למיקם עלייהו, אי בחבסא נפיל, אי בחבטא נפיל.
Talmud: From the fact that the Mishnah teaches that the court considers which stones were likely to break, it can be understood by inference that the case is one in which it is possible to establish with regard to the stones, by looking at the debris, how the accident occurred: Whether it fell with pressure [ḥavasa], i.e., the lower story collapsed, and the upper story followed, or whether it fell with a blow, i.e., the upper story collapsed, and caused the lower story to follow suit. In the first instance, it is the stones of the lower story that were likely to break, in the latter instance, the stones of the upper story.
אי הכי, רישא אמאי חולקין? נחזי אי בחבטא נפיל – עלייתא איתבור, אי בחבסא נפיל – תתייתא איתבור!
The Talmud asks: If that is so, that it is possible to ascertain how the collapse occurred, then why, in the first clause of the Mishnah, do they divide the stones without taking the circumstances into consideration? Let us see: If the house fell with a blow, it means that the stones of the upper story broke, and the owner of the lower story takes the unbroken stones. And if it fell with pressure, it means that the stones of the lower story broke, and the owner of the upper story takes the unbroken stones.