Study Bava Metzia folio 94A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
כך וכך גברי איכא בהדן, כך וכך כלבי איכא בהדן, כך וכך זוקתא פסיקא לן. ואזל ושקל מיניה, מאי? אמר ליה: הרי הוליכן למקום גדודי חיה ולסטים.
we have such and such men with us; such and such dogs with us, and such and such slings [zukata] with us. In other words, we are fully protected and you should not dare to take anything from us. If the thief subsequently went and took an animal from him, what is the halakha? Rava said to Abaye: It is as though he has taken them to a place of groups of animals and bandits, as his taunting of the thief motivated the theft.
מתני׳ מתנה שומר חנם להיות פטור משבועה, והשואל להיות פטור מלשלם, נושא שכר והשוכר להיות פטורין משבועה ומלשלם. כל המתנה על מה שכתוב בתורה – תנאו בטל,
Mishnah: The halakhot of bailees stated in the previous Mishnah apply to standard cases. The halakha is that in any case involving monetary matters the parties may agree to special terms. Therefore, an unpaid bailee may stipulate with the owner that he will be exempt from taking an oath if the item is lost, and similarly, a borrower may stipulate that he will be exempt from having to pay, and a paid bailee or a renter can stipulate that he will be exempt from taking an oath and from having to pay, as one can relinquish his monetary rights. With regard to matters that do not involve monetary claims, anyone who stipulates counter to that which is written in the Torah, his stipulation is void.
וכל תנאי שיש מעשה בתחילתו – תנאו בטל. וכל שאפשר לו לקיימו בסופו, והתנה עמו מתחילתו – תנאו קיים.
And any condition that is preceded by an action, i.e., the agreement is formulated with the promise of an action followed by a statement that this action will be carried out only under certain terms, the condition is void and the promise remains intact. The condition must be stated before the action. And with regard to any condition that one can ultimately fulfill, but he stipulated with him initially, i.e., in practice the action is performed first, followed by the fulfillment of the condition, nevertheless, because it was formulated in the proper manner, with the condition first, his condition is valid. If the condition cannot be fulfilled at all, once the action has been carried out the condition is void.