Study Bava Metzia folio 63B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מה לי הן ומה לי דמיהן – אמרינן, מה לי דמיהן ומה לי הן – נמי אמרינן. ופוסקין על שער שבשוק, ואף על פי שאין לו.
that we say: What difference is it to me if he referred to the produce, and what difference is it to me if he referred to the produce’s value, meaning that we do not require the payment to be in the form of the produce stipulated, we therefore also say: What difference is it to me if he referred to the produce’s value, and what difference is it to me if he referred to the produce, and therefore one may set a price by the market rate. And this is permitted even though he does not have produce at the present moment. Since he could purchase it if he wished it is considered as though he had the produce in his possession, and therefore one may make an agreement with another to provide him with produce at a later date in accordance with the current price.
איתיביה רב פפא ורב הונא בריה דרב יהושע לרבא: כולם, אם יש לו – מותר, אם אין לו – אסור! אמר להו: התם הלואה, הכא זביני.
Rav Pappa, and Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, raised an objection to the opinion of Rava from the aforementioned baraita, which explicitly teaches: With regard to all of them, if he has the produce in his possession, the transaction is permitted, and if he does not have it, the transaction is prohibited. Rava said to them: The tanna there is referring to a transaction for the repayment of the debt conducted after a loan has been given but before it has been repaid, whereas here R' Yannai is dealing with an actual sale, without any loan at all, and therefore there is no interest involved.