Study Bava Metzia folio 80A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מתני׳ השוכר את הפרה לחרוש בהר וחרש בבקעה, אם נשבר הקנקן – פטור. בבקעה וחרש בהר, אם נשבר הקנקן – חייב. לדוש בקטנית ודש בתבואה – פטור, לדוש בתבואה ודש בקטנית – חייב, מפני שהקטנית מחלקת.
Mishnah: With regard to one who rents a cow and a plow in order to plow on the mountain but he plowed in the valley, if the plowshare, the cutting tool on the bottom part of the plow, breaks, he is exempt, as it was even more likely to break on mountainous terrain. In a case where he rents the cow and a plow to plow in the valley but he plowed on the mountain, if the plowshare breaks he is liable. If he hired the cow to thresh legumes but it threshed grain, and the cow slipped and broke its leg, he is exempt. If he hired it to thresh grain but it threshed legumes he is liable, because legumes are slippery.
גמ׳ היכא דלא שני בה, מאן משלם? אמר רב פפא: דנקיט פרשא משלם. רב שישא בריה דרב אידי אמר: דנקיט מנא משלם. והלכתא: דנקיט מנא משלם. ואי דוכתא דמחזקי (גונדרי) – [גרונדי] תרוייהו משלמין.
Talmud: The Mishnah discussed the liability of a renter who diverged from the terms of the rental agreement, but it does not teach the halakha of liability for broken machinery in a case where the renter did follow the agreement. The Talmud asks: In a case where the renter did not diverge from their agreement, who pays? Rav Pappa said: The one who holds the goad [parasha] pays, as it can be assumed that he caused the plow to break by not leading it in a straight path. Rav Sheisha, son of Rav Idi, said: The one who holds the vessel, the plow itself, pays. And the halakha is that the one who holds the vessel pays. And if it was a place where rocks are commonly found they both pay, as in this case any small irregularity in the ground where the plow digs a furrow is likely to cause the plow to break.