Study Bava Metzia folio 99B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
שקרקע נקנית בכסף ובשטר ובחזקה – כך שכירות נקנית בכסף ובשטר ובחזקה. שכירות מאי עבידתיה? אמר רב חסדא: שכירות קרקע.
land is acquired either through the buyer giving money to the seller, or by the seller giving the buyer a bill of sale, or by the buyer performing an act of taking possession, so too, a rental is acquired either through the renter giving money to the owner, or by the owner giving the renter a rental document, or by the renter performing an act of taking possession. Based on the assumption that the baraita is referring to rental of movable property, the Talmud asks: With regard to the case of renting in the baraita, what is its purpose, i.e., why is it mentioned in connection with acts of acquisition that are effective with regard to land? Rav Ḥisda said: The baraita is referring to the rental of land.
אמר שמואל: האי מאן דגזיל חביצא דתמרי מחבריה ואית בה חמשין תמרי, אגב הדדי מזדבנן בחמשין נכי חדא, חדא חדא מזדבנן בחמשין.
§ Apropos the mention in the previous discussion of one who misuses consecrated property, the Talmud cites a related matter. Shmuel says: In the case of one who robs another of a cake [ḥavitza] of pressed dates, and in the cake there are 50 dates, which, when sold together, sell for 50-less-one perutot and when they are sold one by one, they sell for 50 perutot, the sum that the robber is liable to pay as compensation to the robbery victim depends on who the robbery victim is.
להדיוט – משלם חמשין נכי חדא, להקדש – משלם חמשין וחומשייהו, מה שאין כן במזיק – דלא משלם חומשא. דאמר מר: ״ואיש כי יאכל קדש״ – פרט למזיק.
If one robbed, and is paying compensation to, a common person [hedyot], he pays 50-less-one perutot. If one robbed another of a cake that was consecrated to the Temple treasury and he is paying compensation to the Temple treasury, he pays 50 perutot and an additional 1/5th of the value as a fine for having misused consecrated property for each one of the cakes. This is not so with regard to one liable for causing damage to consecrated property, who does not pay the additional 1/5th payment, as the Master says: The verse states: “And a man, if he eats sacrificial food in error, he should add its fifth on it” (Leviticus 22:14). By specifying that one who eats consecrated property is liable to pay the 1/5th payment, the verse excludes one who is liable for causing damage from that requirement.