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רבא אמר רב נחמן: שליח כדיינין. רב שמואל בר ביסנא אמר רב נחמן: כאלמנה.
Rava said that Rav Naḥman said: The halakha with regard to the agent is like the halakha pertaining to the judges. Rav Shmuel bar Bisna said that Rav Naḥman said: The halakha with regard to the agent is like the halakha with regard to a widow.
רבא אמר רב נחמן: שליח כדיינין. מה דיינין לאו לדידהו — אף שליח נמי לאו לדידיה, לאפוקי אלמנה דלדידה.
Rava said that Rav Naḥman said: The halakha with regard to the agent is like the halakha with regard to the judges. Just as the judges have an advantage because they do not assess the value of property for their own benefit, so too, the agent also does not act for his own benefit; this is to the exclusion of a widow who sells for her own benefit.
רב שמואל בר ביסנא אמר רב נחמן: כאלמנה, מה אלמנה יחידה — אף שליח יחיד, לאפוקי בית דין — דרבים נינהו. והלכתא, שליח כאלמנה.
Rav Shmuel, son of Bisna, said that Rav Naḥman said: The halakha with regard to the agent is like the halakha with regard to a widow. Just as a widow is an individual, so too the agent is an individual. This is to the exclusion of the court, which is composed of many people. The Talmud concludes: And the halakha is that with regard to this matter, an agent is like a widow.
ומאי שנא מהא דתנן: האומר לשלוחו ״צא ותרום״ — תורם כדעת בעל הבית, ואם אינו יודע דעתו של בעל הבית — תורם בבינונית אחד מחמשים. פיחת עשרה או הוסיף עשרה, תרומתו תרומה.
The Talmud asks: And in what way is that case different from this case? As we learned in a Mishnah (Terumot 4:4): In the case of one who says to his agent: Go out and separate teruma, the agent separates teruma in accordance with the mind-set of the homeowner. And if he does not know the mind-set of homeowner, he separates an intermediate measure, i.e., 1/50th of the produce. If he subtracted 10 from the denominator and separated 1/40th or added 10 to the denominator and separated 1/60th of the produce, his teruma is considered teruma. If the agent is comparable to a widow, then why isn’t the halakha that the teruma that he has separated is nullified, since he did not act in accordance with the wishes of the homeowner?
Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.