Study Bava Metzia folio 23B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ומחרוזות של דגים. אמאי? להוי קשר סימן! בקטרא דציידא, דכולי עלמא הכי מקטרי. ולהוי מנין סימן! במנינא דשוין.
§ The Mishnah teaches that strings of fish are among the list of found items that one may keep. The Talmud asks: Why not let the knot with which the fish are tied serve as a distinguishing mark? The Talmud answers: The Mishnah is referring to the fisherman’s knot with which everyone ties his fish, which is not distinctive. The Talmud asks: But why not let the number of fish tied on the string serve as a distinguishing mark? The Talmud answers: The Mishnah is referring to a number of fish that is equal to that on all strings of fish in that area.
בעו מיניה מרב ששת: [מנין] הוי סימן או לא הוי סימן? אמר להו רב ששת: תניתוה, מצא כלי כסף וכלי נחושת, גסטרון של אבר, וכל כלי מתכות – הרי זה לא יחזיר עד שיתן אות, או עד שיכוין משקלותיו. ומדמשקל הוי סימן, מדה ומנין נמי הוי סימן.
The rabbis raised a dilemma before Rav Sheshet: In items that have no other distinguishing mark, is their number a distinguishing mark or is it not a distinguishing mark? Rav Sheshet said to them: You learned it in a baraita: If one found silver vessels, copper vessels, fragments of lead, and any metal vessels, that person who found them should not return the item to its owner until the owner provides a distinguishing sign or until the owner accurately provides its weight. And from the fact that weight serves as a distinguishing mark, measure and number also serve as a distinguishing mark.
וחתיכות של בשר וכו׳. אמאי? להוי משקלא סימן! במשקלא דשוין. ותהוי חתיכה גופה סימן, או דדפקא או דאטמא! מי לא תניא: מצא חתיכות דגים ודג נשוך – חייב להכריז. חביות של יין ושל שמן ושל תבואה ושל גרוגרות ושל זיתים – הרי אלו שלו.
The Mishnah teaches that cuts of meat are among the list of found items that one may keep. The Talmud asks: Why not let the weight of the cut serve as a distinguishing mark? The Talmud answers: The Mishnah is referring to a weight that is equal, i.e., all cuts of meat in that area are of that weight. The Talmud asks: But why not let the cut of meat itself serve as a distinguishing mark, as it came, For example: either from the neck or from the thigh of the animal? Isn’t it taught in a baraita: If one found cuts of fish, or a fish that was bitten, he is obligated to proclaim his find, and if he found jugs of wine, or of oil, or of grain, or of dried figs, or of olives, these belong to him? Apparently, the distinguishing mark in the cuts of fish is the part of the fish from which they were cut.