Study Bava Metzia folio 93A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
הניחא למאן דאמר אין הרב יכול לומר לעבד עשה עמי ואיני זנך – שפיר. אלא למאן דאמר יכול הרב לומר לעבד עשה עמי ואיני זנך, מאי איכא למימר?
This works out well according to the one who says that a master cannot say to a slave: Work for me and I will not feed you, i.e., he is obligated to provide the slave with a livelihood. For the purposes of the case at hand, this means that the master cannot stipulate that he is relinquishing his slaves’ right to eat while performing labor, and therefore it works out well. But according to the one who says that a master can say to a slave: Work for me and I will not feed you, what can be said? He should be able to stipulate to that effect with regard to his minor slave, as he is entitled to all profits that result from the slaves’ labor.
אלא אידי ואידי בשאין מעלה להן מזונות, ובהא פליגי: דמר סבר יכול, ומר סבר אין יכול. ורבי יוחנן, דאמר: יכול הרב, שביק מתניתין ועביד כברייתא?!
Rather, according to this opinion one must accept a different explanation: Both this Mishnah and that baraita are referring to a case when he does not provide the slaves with food, and the two tannaitic sources disagree with regard to that very issue. As one Sage, the tanna of the baraita, holds that a master can say to a slave: Work for me and I will not feed you, and one Sage, the tanna of the Mishnah, holds that he cannot do so. The Talmud is puzzled by this response: If so, R' Yoḥanan, who says that a master can say to his slave that he will not feed him, has left aside the Mishnah and acted and ruled in accordance with the baraita.