Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Kamma
- 7.6.5
פטור – the thief [is exempt] from none of it.
- 7.7.1
אין מגדלין בהמה דקה בארץ ישראל – because the settling of the land of Israel which causes the loss of the seeds.
- 7.7.2
אבל מגדלין בסוריא – lands that [King] David conquered but are not called conquest, and we don’t take into consideration of it for settlement, but if they causes loss to other fields, he has to pay it back.
- 7.7.3
אין מגדלין תרנגולין בירושלים מפני קדשים – for they eat there, and it is the manner of chickens to gnaw at the trash, and perhaps would bring a bone [like the size of a piece of barley] from the unclean reptile and would ritually defile that holy things.
- 7.7.4
ולא – Kohanim should not raise chickens throughout all of the Land of Israel.
- 7.7.5
מפני הטהרות – for he Kohanim eat priest’s due and need to preserve it in ritual purity.
- 7.7.6
חזירים – the reason is explained in the Gemara (Tractate Bava Kamma 81b) when the Kings of the Hasmoneans split with each other, it was customary each day that those who were outside would bring up to them daily [burnt] offerings to those who were inside. One day, they brought up to them a swine, and since it reached o the half-way point of the wall, the swine pressed its nails against the wall and all of the Land of Israel shook four hundred parasang by four hundred parasang. At that hour, they said: cursed be the tower of the swine.
- 7.7.7
את הכלב – because it bites and it barks and causes a woman to abort [her fetus] from her fear of it.
- 7.7.8
נשבים – traps so that doves who are part of the settlement will not be seized.
- 7.7.9
שלשים ריס – four miles.
- 8.1.1
החובל. וכמה הוא יפה – for if he needed to, he would sell himself as a Hebrew slave. But the one who damages him causes him the loss of this money.
- 8.1.2
כיוצא בזה – according to what he enjoys, the greatness of his trouble and pain.
- 8.1.3
צמחין – white pustules.
- 8.1.4
שבת – all the days of the illness, we see him as if he is watchman of cucumbers and provide his salary of each day. For behold he is not fit for another labor even without illness for his hand is cut off or his leg and he has already been given their value.
- 8.1.5
הכל לפי המבייש – an unimportant man who was put to shame, his insult is greater.
- 8.1.6
והמתבייש – according to his importance is his shame [greater]. And each of these five things are derived from Biblical verses. Damages/נזק, as it is written (Exodus 21:24): “eye for eye” – and that does not mean to say an actual eye, as it is written (Numbers 35:31): “You may not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer.” For the life of a murderer you don’t take a ransom, but you do take a ransom for the heads of his limbs, for if he blinded he eye of his fellow, we give him the value of the eye, and that is “eye for an eye.” Pain/צער – we derive from (Exodus 21:25): “wound for wound.”. For it is an additional verse making him liable for the pain and even in the place of damage. And you should not say, behold he acquired his hand, and he now must cut it off. But we say that he should have cut it off with a drug, and this one severed it with iron and caused him pain. Therefore, he pays for the pain [that he caused]. ריפוי ושבת /healing and idleness/sitting. (Exodus 21:19): “Except that he must pay for his idleness and his cure,” and specifically if the illness comes on account of the wound. But if the hill person was negligent regarding himself and transgressed the words of the physician, the one who did damage is not liable for idleness and healing for we require on account of negligence. בשת/insult or indignity – as it is written (Deuteronomy 25:12): “You shall cut off her hand; [show no pity] – it is money. And the law of the Torah is that one cannot judge aa single law in the world other than judges who are ordained in the Land of Israel, as it is written (Exodus 22:8): “the case of both parties shall come before God.” And they [who judge] are not called "אלהים"/God, other than those who are ordained in the Land of Israel. But loans, business transactions, agreements by which one’s landed estate is mortgaged in the form of a sale from date (independent of he loan to consummated afterwards so that at a certain date the creditor can claim the property, even if sold in the meantime, by referring to the priority of his purchase (i.e., deeds of transfer), admissions and denials, we adjudicate them outside the Land [of Israel] as if they (i.e., the judges) are representatives of the Jewish court of the Land of Israel and their agency we make use of. And this alone in a found matter where there is a [potential] loss of money [and similarly] an animal that damaged with the tooth or the foot and they are forewarned, or if a man caused damage to an animal. But an animal that caused damage to a person, or a person to another person, we don’t judge hem outside the Land [of Israel] at all. Rather, we excommunicate the person who wounds or the one who causes damage, until he go up with his fellow litigant to the Land of Israel or that he will provide, through the path of compromise, something close to what appears in the eyes of the judge. But a limited matter, they don’t render a decision upon. And the same law applies to fines that written in the Torah and in all of them is Talmudic learning: We don’t collect them – the judges of the Diaspora, but rather we excommunicate whomever is liable for them as we have explained.
- 8.2.1
ושור אינו משלם אלא נזק – as it is written (Leviticus 24:19): “If anyone [maims] his fellow, [as he has done so shall it be done to him,” and not an ox for its fellow.
- 8.2.2
ופטור מדמי ולדות – as it is written (Exodus 21:22): “When men fight” - men and not oxen.
- 8.3.1
החובל בחבירו ביה"כ חייב – even though that in the entire Torah , a person who violates a transgression for which he is liable for flogging and payment, he is flogged but does not pay. Here, he pays and is not flogged. For in the commentary, the Torah widened the scope of the law concerning a person who strikes his fellow for payment and not for stripes, from what is written (Deuteronomy 19:21): “hand for hand,” which is money since it is written (Leviticus 24:19): “as he has done so shall it be done to him.” Why does it say “hand for hand?” But rather to include a person who strikes his fellow on Yom Kippur that pays and does not get flogged.
- 8.3.2
רבי יהודה אומר אין לעבדים בושת – as it is written (Deuteronomy 25:11): “If two men get into a fight with each other,” for whom that he has brotherhood, excluding a slave who lacks brotherhood. Ut the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
- 8.4.1
עבד ואשה שחבלו באחרים פטורים – for they lack what to pay.
- 8.4.2
נתגרשה האשה ונשתחרר העבד – and they acquired property, they are liable to pay. For at the beginning, they are liable, but they lack what to pay as the usufruct of the wife is mortgaged to her husband for its fruits and for inheritance.
- 8.5.1
מפני שהוא נדון בנפשו – for even though he is disgraced, he is repaired regarding his Creator, since his wrath has been appeased and his anger has been put to rest through [his act].
- 8.6.1
התוקע לחבירו – who attaches his fingers in the palm of his hand and strikes him with a fist (see Talmud Bava Kamma 90a about other possible meanings – like slapping his neighbor on the ear or shouting into his ear).
- 8.6.2
נותן לו סלע – the monetary value of his embarrassment. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda who holds that he gives him a Maneh.
- 8.6.3
סטרו – that he struck him with the palm of his hand on his cheek, and there is greater indignity.
- 8.6.4
צרם – pulled. Another language: he cut/damaged.
- 8.6.5
הכל לפי כבודו – all of these monies that were mentioned in the Mishnah are not other than for the most honored. But for a despised person, we lessen it for him.
- 8.6.6
אמר רבי עקיבא וכו' – Rabbi Akiva disputes with the first Tanna/teacher as he holds that whether the person is honored or despised, they are equivalent for the laws of these fines. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Akiva.
- 8.6.7
ונתן לו זמן – and these words are for indignity when it doesn’t cause loss of money, we give him time. But for damages that cause him loss of money, we don’t give him time.
- 8.6.8
שימר – he waited until he saw here standing at the entrance of her courtyard.
- 8.6.9
ובו כאיסר שמן – oil that is purchased for an Issar.
- 8.6.10
לזו אני נותן ארבע מאות זוז – for on an Issar’s worth of oil she disregarded herself to reveal her head and she shows that she is not strict about indignity/embarrassment.
- 8.7.1
על מנת לפטור חייב – if the one who wounds would ask the one wounded, on condition to exempt me , you say, “blind my eye,” and the wounded responded “yes,” for it is not the manner of human beings to pardon on the pain of their bodies, but if a person says to his fellow: “break my pitcher,” and the one doing damage asked: “on condition that you will exempt me you state this,” even though the one who suffered damage responded to him negatively, this “no” is like a “yes”, and it is as if he said to: “but didn’t I not say to you on condition that I would be exempt?” And therefore, he is exempt, for such is the manner of human beings to pardon on monetary damages.
- 9.1.1
הגוזל. משלם כשעת הגזילה – the cost of wood and/or wool and he is not liable to return to him utensils, for they were acquired through the change.
- 9.1.2
דמי רחל העומדת ליגזז – and the surplus that is worth more than the offspring and the sheering [of wool]. It is his (i.e., belongs to him) as he acquired it through the change.
- 9.1.3
זה הכלל – to include [someone] who stole a lamb and which grew to be a ram, a calf and it became an ox and he slaughtered it or sold it that he is exempt from paying four (sheep for the sheep) or five (oxen for the ox – see Exodus 21:37), for since a change had occurred while in his hand, he acquired it. For something that is his, he can slaughter or sell it.
- 9.2.1
בעבדים אומר לו הרי שלך לפניך – for they are like land and exist in the domain of their master. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Meir.
- 9.2.4
מטבע ונפסל – it is not in circulation in that country, but it is in circulation in another country.
- 9.2.5
ונעבדה בה עבירה – it was copulated in an unnatural way or was used for [idolatrous] purposes, it is ritually unfit for a sacrifice.
- 9.2.6
שנפסלה למזבח – with a blemish that is not recognized such as a veiled or withered spots in the eye (i.e., cataracts).
- 9.3.1
נתן לאומנין לתקן – he gave them wood to make a tool, and after the tool had been made, he ruined it, he (i.e., the artisan) is liable to pay the cost of the tool and not the cost of the wood alone.
- 9.3.2
נתן לחרש – now it comes to inform us that if he gave the made tool/utensil to the artisan to fix and he ruined it, he is liable to pay the cost of the tool/utensil. And the Mishnah taught the last clause to reveal [more] about the first clause [of the Mishnah], so that you should not say that the first clause is speaking of a formed tool/utensil.
- 9.3.3
שידה – a wooden wagon that is made to give transport for women.
- 9.4.1
והקדיחתו יורה – that the dye burned it and caused it to bubble too much.
- 9.4.2
נותן לו דמי צמרו – and here, there is no improvement at all, for behold it was burned completely and one doesn’t have to say if it improved more.
- 9.4.3
צבאו כאור – like dark/ugly, for they dyed it with the worthless matter/refuse of the dye and damaged it on purpose, therefore, according to everyone, he is at a disadvantage.
- 9.4.4
ואם השבח – that the wool grew in value,
- 9.4.5
יתר על היציאה – greater than the outlay of the wool, he gives to the dyer the outlay but not the entire wages and receives his wool. And the cost of his wool, we don’t say that we give it to him for he caused the wool to receive its increased value , for it was through the wool that he made a condition with him the dyer and there’re is no change that was acquired.
- 9.4.6
לצבוע לו אדום וכו' – it is an acquisition through a change for Rabbi Meir, that he should not give other than the [cost] of the wool, or that he should give him his salary in full and take the wool.
- 9.4.7
רבי יהודה אומר וכו' – they fined him for that he changed it so that he is a disadvantage and that he should not benefit from improvement . And the reward also he should not take, but rather the outlay, but if the outlay is greater than the improvement, he should give him the improvement that was made. But if he wants, he may give him his complete salary, for if the improvement is greater than the salary, he should give him his salary. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda.
- 9.5.1
נשבע לו – [the thief swore] on the lie [that the had not stolen it] and then admitted to it.
- 9.5.2
יוליכנו אחריו אפילו למדי – for he has no atonement until he returns it himself to the person he stole it from, for concerning taking an oath on a lie, it is written (Leviticus 5:24): “He shall pay it to its owner [when he realizes his guilt].”
- 9.5.3
לא יתן לא לבנו – of the person who had been stolen from, for he has no restitution until it reaches his (i.e., the person stolen from) hand.
- 9.5.4
לשליח ב"ד – it is an enactment that was made by the Rabbis because of (see Tractate Gittin, Chapter 5, Mishnah 5) the measure for the benefit of repentant sinners that they would not be liable to this one to spend a Maneh while setting out on the road.
- 9.5.5
ואם מת – the one who was stolen from.
- 9.6.1
חוץ מפחות ומשוה פרוטה וכו' – and we don’t take into consideration lest it became more valuable and he will retract on the value of a penny, and even one who steals in a discernable manner, it is not necessary to chase after him [to return it].
- 9.7.1
ונשבע לו על החומש – a second oath that he had given him [the money] but he admitted that they had not given him [that money].
- 9.7.2
ה"ז משלם חומש על חומש – a fifth of a fifth for the first fifth became the principal.
- 9.7.3
עד שיתמעט וכו' – for he retracted and gave him the first one-fifth and took an oath [falsely] on the second fifth, and admitted [that he had lied] and pays that fifth and the fifth of the second fifth, and similarly forever, as it states (Leviticus 5:24): “and add a fifth part to it.” The Torah increased the fifths a great deal for one principal.
- 9.7.4
תשומת יד – a loan
- 9.7.5
עשק את עמיתו – the wages of a hired man.
- 9.7.6
משלם קרן – for there is no one-fifth and a guilt offering other than if he admitted as it is written concerning the theft of a convert (Numbers 5:7)“he shall confess the wrong that he has done, etc.” [and] (Numbers 5:8): “If a man has no kinsman to whom restitution can be made, the amount repaid shall go to the LORD for the priest – in addition to the ram of expiation with which expiation is made on his behalf.”
- 9.8.1
תשלומי כפל – if he (i.e. the person who was the deposit holder who stole the deposit) admitted on his own, he does not pay the two-fold restitution , as it is written (Exodus 22:8): “he whom God declares guilt [shall pay double to the other],” excluding one who accuses himself (see Talmud Bava Kamma 84b).
- 9.9.1
הרי זה משלם קרן וחומש לבניו או לאחיו – if he has no children, and even though an inheritance fell before him of that one (i.e., who stole from his father and he lied about it), it is required to arrange a return [of the funds] and it should not be detained with him even corresponding to his portion, as it is written (Leviticus 5:23): “[when one has thus sinned and, realizing his guilt, [would restore that which he got through robbery [or fraud, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost thing that he had found],” there is no remedy until he removes that which he stole from under his hand and only as long as it the actual stolen object and not something acquired through changing it.
- 9.9.2
אין לו – [he lacks] enough property that he can renounce his share.
- 9.9.4
לוה – [borrow] from others and return the stolen object to his brothers to fulfill the commandment of returning [lost or stolen objects].
- 9.9.5
ובעלי החוב – that the thief borrowed from them.
- 9.9.6
באים ונפרעים – from this stolen object the part that the thief has a part in, and if there is no heir to his father other than him, he himself gives the stolen object to the creditor in payment of the obligation and he must announce to him and tell him that this is the stolen thing of [my] father, or he gives it in this manner as part of the Ketubah/marriage contract to his wife or to the charity box, and in all of them, he must admit that this was the stolen object of his father’s.
- 9.10.1
ואם אין לו – [if he lacks] what he will eat, he borrows and eats, and the creditors come and recover the loan from his part of the estate. And it is not considered benefit that he pays off his debt with those money, for behold it is taught in the Mishnah in the Tractate Nedarim, Chapter 4, Mishnah 2 (Talmud Nedarim 33a) that one who has taken a vow of receiving benefit from his fellow, pays off his debt to him.
- 9.11.1
שנאמר ואם אין לאיש גואל – for there is no man in Israel that lacks redeemers above until Jacob our Father, other than this proselyte who dies and has no inheritors.
- 9.11.2
ומת – the thief.
- 9.11.3
הכסף ינתן לבניו – of the thief, for they already became worthy of them from the death of the proselyte, But now, there is no further atonement since he (i.e., the convert) died.
- 9.11.4
והאשם ירעה – according to the law of the guilt offering whose owners have died, for we hold that where for a sin-offering, it (i.e., the animal) died, with a guilt offering, it must pasture [until it acquires a blemish, thus becoming unfit for sacrifice – and then it is sold, and its money shall fall to the Temple treasury as a donation].
- 9.11.5
עד שיסתאב – until a blemish falls upon it.
- 9.11.6
ויפלו דמיו לנדבה – for the summer-time of the altar to purchase from them burnt offerings.
- 9.12.1
לאנשי משמר ומת – before he would bring the sacrifice, for the heirs of the robber are not able to take out of the hands of the Kohanim after they have taken possession of it already.
- 9.12.2
ליהויריב – he is the first division of the twenty-four Temple divisions of duty of the priests that are in the Temple and of Jedaiah after him.
- 9.12.3
נתן – the thief gave the money to Jehoiarib in his division of duty and afterwards gave the guilt offering to Jedaiah in his division of duty, he has fulfilled his obligation, as it is explained further, that when he brings his stolen object, even before he brought his guilt offering sacrifice, he fulfilled his religious duty, and this division of duty merited in his [restoration of the stolen object] and that one [in his bringing of the guilt-offering sacrifice]. But, if he gave his guilt offering to Jehoiarib when he brought his guilt offering first and only afterwards brought his stolen object and gave it to the division of duty after that one, if the guilt offering exists – that it was not [yet] sacrificed by the sons of Jehoiarib, the sons of of Jedaiah will sacrifice it and his stolen object and his guilt offering will go to Jedaiah, and if his guilt offering does not exist, he has not fulfilled his guilt offering that he gave to Jehoiarib, since he had not given back his stolen object, and he will have to go back and bring another guilt-offering.
- 9.12.4
נתן את הקרן – to the Priests.
- 9.12.5
אין החומש מעכב – from offering the guilt-offering as a sacrifice if he had already given it and at the end gave the [the stolen object].
- 10.1.1
הגוזל ומאכיל. והניח לפניהם – or he left [as an inheritance the stolen goods] the theft exists.
- 10.1.2
פטורים לשלם – if they consumed it after the death of their father and there is nothing discernible left, they are exempt from paying. For they had stolen nothing, and movables are not mortgaged to the creditor, but if they had not consumed it and there was something discernable left, they are obligated to return it (i.e., the stolen goods).
- 10.1.3
אם היה דבר שיש בו אחריות – meaning to say, if their father left them mortgaged property (or property which may be resorted to in case of non-payment), they are obligated to repay [what was stolen] even though they had already consumed it. This is how our Mishnah is reconciled in the Gemara (Talmud Bava Kamma 111b). But regarding the Halakhic decision, He who steals and feeds his children, whether they consumed it before despair [of the original owner ever recouping what was stolen from him] or whether they consumed it after despair [of the owner] they are obligated to pay back from the monies that their father left them, whether from mortgaged property or whether from that which cannot be resorted to (i.e., movables) and today, movables are mortgaged to the creditor But if the thief did not leave anything [for his children], if the children consumed the stolen goods before despair [of the original owner of ever recouping them], they are obligated to return it from their own [estate]. But if it is after despair [of the original owner] that they consumed it, they are not obligated to pay back from their own [estates] other than if their father had left it for them.
- 10.1.4
אין פורטין – do not exchange Selas for Perutot (i.e., pennies).
- 10.1.5
מתיבת המוכסין – to take Perutot (i.e. pennies) from treasury [of the publicans] where they place the monies of the taxes.
- 10.1.6
ולא מכיס של [גבאים] -the king’s collectors who collect capitation taxes and taxes from crops and other famer’s produces delivered in kind because they are from theft, and especially the heathen custom -collectors or the Israelite custom-collector/publican who is not limited by legal stipulations (see Talmud Bava Kamma 113a), who takes whatever he wants. But an Israelite publican who was appointed even by a heathen king and takes a fixed stipulation according to the law of the kingdom is not under the presumption of being a thief, and one may exchange coins from his treasury and not only this but also, it is forbidden to fell from his taxes, for the law of the land is the law/דינא דמלכותא דינא.
- 10.1.7
מתוך ביתו – from the tax collector who is presumed to be a thief.
- 10.1.8
או מן השוק – if he has monies in his house or in the market which are not from the tax treasury box, and if a person is liable some pennies to the tax collector from the tax of one-half Dinar and he doesn’t have the Perutot/pennies, one gives him a silver Dinar and he receives from the Perutot equivalent to half its value and even though he gives it to him from the tax treasury box because it is like he rescuing him from his hand.
- 10.2.1
הרי אלו שלו – for undefined the owners have despaired immediately, and this one acquired it through despair [of the original owner] and the change of domain.
- 10.2.2
אם נתיאשו הבעלים – for we learned that regarding despair, when they say, Woe is Me for the loss of money, but not if it is not defined. The first section of the Mishnah [deals with] when the robbers took his clothing, that is undefined, that the owners resign their possession – we are speaking of Jewish thieves, for since the Jewish laws state: bring witnesses, bring proof, for when the robbers take it they (i.e., the owners) despair, but the concluding section of the Mishnah deals with heathen robbers for heathen judges judge with haughtiness and physical might, and when they state an opinion, it is without witnesses and without proof and those who suffered theft from them do not despair. But because of this, if we hear about this, it surely refers to despair, but, undefined, it is not.
- 10.2.3
נחיל של דבורים – a collection [of bees] gathered together with their sovereign.
- 10.2.4
לא יקוץ את השוכה – the bees settled upon the bough of his fellow and was afraid to take one at a time so that they should not flee, he should not cut the branch entirely, and even on condition of giving the money.
- 10.2.5
רבי ישמעאל וכו' – But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yishmael.
- 10.3.1
המכיר כליו וספריו וכו' – Our Mishnah [deals] with a person who is not used to selling his utensils, for since a report of a theft had לוקח gone forth in the city, and there are witnesses that these were his utensils and books, we don’t suspect that perhaps he actually sold them.
- 10.3.2
נשבע לוקח כמה נתן ויטול – and he should return to him his utensils, and we are speaking about the time before despair.
- 10.4.1
אין לו אלא שכרו – payment for the utensil and payment for the labor (of preserving the other’s honey).
- 10.4.2
שטף נהר חמורו – it is necessary to teach two segments of our Mishnah, for it (i.e., the Mishnah) had taught [only] the first part, I would think that it is there when he specifies, that they give him the cost of everything, because that which is in his hands, he loses when he spills his wine by his own hands for him. But in the concluding part [of the Mishnah] that of itself, I would say that he has nothing other than his salary/pay , but if we were to teach only the concluding section [of the Mishnah], here when it is undefined, he would have nothing other than his salary/payment of itself, but there (in the first part of the Mishnah dealing with a jar of wine and pitcher of honey) when it is in their hands, I would say, even when undefined, he should give him the cost of everything, Hence it is necessary [to teach both].
- 10.5.1
נטלוה מסיקין – violent men stole it from the thief. The Aramaic translation of [מסיקין] the shrieking of locusts (possibly cricket – see Talmud Bava Kamma 116b), for the locust is a thief, which eats other’s fields.
- 10.5.2
אם מכח מדינה היא – which took by force the fields of others with this.
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Bartenura on Mishnah, trans. by Rabbi Robert Alpert, 2020. Via Sefaria (sefaria.org), Sefaria-Export. Version source: http://sefaria.org/ Licence: CC-BY. Source.