Study Bava Metzia folio 24A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ובאושפיזא. מאי נפקא מינה? אמר מר זוטרא: לאהדורי ליה אבידתא בטביעות עינא. אי ידעינן ביה דלא משני אלא בהני תלת – מהדרינן ליה, ואי משני במילי אחריני – לא מהדרינן ליה.
And he can lie with regard to a host [ushpiza], as one may say that he was not well received by a certain host to prevent everyone from taking advantage of the host’s hospitality. What is the practical difference that emerges from this statement with regard to matters in which Torah scholars deviate from the truth? Mar Zutra says: The practical difference is with regard to returning a lost item on the basis of visual recognition. If we know about him that he alters his statements only with regard to these 3 matters, we return the lost item to him, but if he alters his statements with regard to other matters, we do not return the lost item to him.
מר זוטרא חסידא אגניב ליה כסא דכספא מאושפיזא. חזיא לההוא בר בי רב דמשי ידיה ונגיב בגלימא דחבריה. אמר: היינו האי דלא איכפת ליה אממונא דחבריה. כפתיה ואודי.
The Talmud relates: A silver goblet was stolen from the host of Mar Zutra Ḥasida. Mar Zutra saw a certain student of Torah who washed his hands and dried them on the cloak of another. Mar Zutra said: This is the one who does not care about the property of another. He bound that student, and the student then confessed that he stole the goblet.
תניא: מודה רבי שמעון בן אלעזר בכלים חדשים ששבעתן העין שחייב להכריז. ואלו הן כלים חדשים שלא שבעתן העין שאינו חייב להכריז, כגון בדי מחטין, וצינוריות, ומחרוזות של קרדומות. כל אלו שאמרו, אימתי מותרים? בזמן שמצאן אחד אחד, אבל מצאן שנים שנים – חייב להכריז.
It is taught in a baraita: Although R' Shimon ben Elazar holds that one does not need to proclaim his finding of anpurya vessels, he concedes that the finder is obligated to proclaim his find of new vessels that the eye of its purchaser has sufficiently seen. And these are new vessels that the eye of its purchaser has not yet sufficiently seen and concerning which the finder is not obligated to proclaim his find: For example: branches [badei] upon which needles or utensils for spinning are hanging, or strings of axes. When is it permitted for the one who finds all those items that the tanna mentioned in the baraita to keep them? It is when he found them one at a time. But if he found them two at a time, the finder is obligated to proclaim his find.