meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt_done/Mishnah/Commentary/Bartenura/Seder Nezikin/Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia/English/merged.txt"}
text: Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
  ברטנורא על משנה בבא מציעא
  merged
  
  This file contains merged sections from the following text versions:
  -Sefaria Community Translation
  -
  -Bartenura on Mishnah, trans. by Rabbi Robert Alpert, 2020
  -
  
  Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Mishnah 1
  
  שנים אוחזין בטלית – In the Gemara (Bava Metzia 7a), it maintains our Mishnah [deals with the case] such as one of them grabs hold of threads that are at the border of the garment from this side, and another grabs hold of threads that at the border of the of the garment from that side, but if they were cleaving to the garment itself, this one takes up until the place where hand reaches and that one takes up the place where his hand reaches, and the rest they would divide equally. , and through an oath.
  זה אומר כולה שלי – I purchased it and/or it was sold to me by the seller and not to you. And when the seller sold [it] to one of them and took the money from both of them, one of them with his knowledge and the other one against his will, and he (i.e., the seller) does not know which one was with his knowledge and which one was against his will. For if he had known, and he would have said: “to this one, I sold [it].” There would be here one witness. And the one opposite him would be liable for an oath from the Torah, to contradict the witness. But now that he does not know, both are sworn to this oath that is mentioned in our Mishnah. And by law, they would divide [the garment] without an oath, but the Sages enacted that neither of them at all can take it without an oath, in order that everyone wouldn’t go and seize the garment of his fellow and say, “it is mine.” And it was necessary for the Tanna [of our Mishnah] to teach us that when this one says, “I found it, “that is through [an act of] finding it, and the other who says, “it is all mine,” that is through a commercial transaction. For had the Tanna [of our Mishnah] [only taught] a found object, I might think that it is through a found object [only] that the Rabbis imposed an oath, because they have taught a leniency to grab hold [of the corner of the object] inappropriately, so that my fellow would not have nothing missing in it, I will go and grab hold of it and divide it in public, but [regarding] a commercial transaction, if he had no need for it, he would not go after it to purchase it, and the person who comes to divide it with him and give him half of its monetary value, which is inappropriate, causing him loss and that is not to say that he is teaching that it is permitted to do so. I would say that the Rabbis did not impose upon him an oath. But if [the Mishnah] only taught about commercial transactions, I would say that is only upon commercial transactions that the Rabbis imposed upon him an oath because they are teaching a leniency and he [would] say, my fellow gives me money and I give money, now it is necessary for me, I will take it, and my fellow will have to trouble himself to go and purchase another one. But, regarding a found object, where you don’t have to say this, I would say, no, hence, it is necessary [for the Mishnah to teach both about found objects and commercial transactions].
  ישבע שאין לו בה פחות מחציה – but he would not be sworn to an oath [saying] “it is all his,” as he would claim from the outset. For all of it would not be given to him. But if from when he claimed that half of it was his that it should be given to him, he would weaken his position from his first statement – when he said that it was all his. Therefore, he takes an oath that he does not have any less than half, which implies by this – that all of it is mine, as he had said initially; but according to your words, where you do not believe me regarding all of it, [I am taking] an oath that I have [a stake] in it and I have no less than one-half.
  
  Mishnah 2
  
  היו שנים רוכבים על גבי בהמה – this comes to the us that a rider purchases, and even though he does not direct the animal [by leading it] as the animal does not move from its place.
  או שהיה אחד רוכב ואחד מנהיג – at the time when he rides, he stirs it up with his legs so that when the animal moves in consequence of this, the rider and the leader are identical , but if there only was a rider alone, the leader purchased the animal; the rider did not purchase the animal. But if they admitted or witnesses came even after the law was decided for them, that they should divide it with an oath, they divide it without an oath [administered].
  
  Mishnah 3
  
  אמר לחבירו תנה לי וכו' – but if he said: “I have taken possession of it,” the rider has purchased it, and the leader cannot say: “I have taken possession of it.”
  לא אמר כלום – that he acquired it when he drew/seized it from his fellow’s hand, and all the while that it was in the hand of the one who lifted it, it is was ownerless.
  
  Mishnah 4
  
  זה שהחזיק בה זכה בה – and especially when the lost object was in the public domain, since the four cubits [surrounding] a person do not acquire for him in the public domain, the person who takes hold of it acquires title to it. But in an alley/recess (adjoining an open place to which merchants retire to transact business; alternatively: market stand under a colonnade), which is the path of an individual, or on the sides of the public domain where many are not crowding there, the four cubits of a person take possession for any found object and any ownerless object that is near him is considered like four cubits, and another person may not take seize it. And the Rabbis decreed this so people would not come to quarrel.
  אחר צבי שבור – which is incapable of running and is well-guarded in the field (i.e., fenced in), if others will not take it, it is like a found object.
  זכתה לו – and he stands at the side of his field, and as such is able to run after them and reaches them before they leave from his field.
  
  Mishnah 5
  
  הקטנים – all who are supported by/rely upon the father’s table, even if he is an adult, we call him a minor, and anything he finds belongs to his father for the sake of preventing ill-feeling. But a daughter, whether she is a minor or a maiden, her found object belongs to her father, since the Torah makes assignment of all gains/profits of her maidenhood belong to her father (see Numbers 30:17 – בנעוריה בית אביה /”while in her father’s household by reason of her youth”).
  עבדו ושפחתו הכנענים – for their bodies are owned by him, as it is written (Leviticus 25:46): “You shall keep them as a possession [for your children after you, for them to inherit as property for all time. Such you may treat as slaves].”
  מציאת אשתו – The Rabbis ordained this for the sake of preventing ill-feeling.
  
  Mishnah 6
  
  אחריות נכסים – landed security (i.e., that the debtor’s landed property is pledged to the creditor) that he can collect from them.
  לא יחזיר – for we are suspicious of collection and conspiracy to fraud and divide the profits. Lest it was a collected/paid off document and it fell from the borrower, and when he admits: “I did not pay,” there is a council of deception between them to seize the sold mortgaged property which cannot be resorted to (in the event of non-payment) and it will be divided between them.
  בין כך ובין כך לא יחזיר – a document which cannot be resorted to (i.e., movable property) is mortgaged, and can be collected from, and surety (i.e., property which may be resorted to in the event of non-payment) is the error made by the scribe; and we are suspicious of collection and conspiracy to fraud, and the Halakha is according to the Sages. And specifically, with a document where property may be resorted to in the event of non-payment is not mentioned in it, the Sages said that it is an error made by the scribe, and we collect from mortgaged property as if the surety was written in it (i.e., the document). But if it was spelled out in the document that he (i.e., the borrower) did not want to accept upon himself surety [for non-payment], the Sages admit that he may return it, for now there is no fear for a conspiracy to fraud.
  
  Mishnah 7
  
  דייתיקי – the verbal will of someone on his death-bed, that this is what should occur and happen.
  ושוברים – [receipts] that the creditor makes for the borrower when his loan document has been repaid.
  
  Mishnah 8
  
  אגרות שום – that the Jewish court estimated the [value of the] property of the borrower to the creditor in his loan document
  ואגרות מזון – that he accepted upon himself to feed the daughter of his wife. Another explanation: that they would sell from the landed property of the husband to support the wife and the daughters.
  ומיאונין – that they would write in the document: “In our presence, so-and-so has refused this particular gentleman as her husband.” And this is regarding when a minor whose mother and/or brothers married her off, she does not require a Jewish bill of divorce.
  שטרי בירורין – this one chooses one [judge] and the other party chooses one [judge] who will adjudicate for them.
  מצא – [he found] documents.
  בחפיסה – a small leather bag
  ודלוסקמא – a leather utensil/box that the elderly hide their utensils so that they don’t have to search after them.
  ותכריך של שטרות – three documents or more which are wrapped up one with the other.
  ואגודה – that are lying one on top of the other, the length of this one on the length of that one.
  הרי זה יחזיר – since it is something that has a sign; for the utensil is sign when the owners say, “in this particular utensil you found them.”
  אחד הלוה משלשה – if there are three [loan] documents of one borrower who borrowed from three [different] people, the finder [of these lost documents] should be returned to the borrower, since they had surely fallen from his hand, for if they had fallen from their hands (i.e., the three lenders), who gathered them to one place? And specifically when the documents were authenticated by the Jewish court. But if they were not authenticated, we suspect that perhaps, in order to authenticate them, the three lenders brought them to the scribe of the judges and they fell from the hand of the scribe. And we should not suspect lest after they had been authenticated, they fell from the hand of the scribe, for a person does not delay their confirmation in the hand of the scribe. And if they (i.e., the loan documents) are from three [different] borrowers, who borrowed from one individual, the finder should return them to the lender for the matter is known that they fell from him. And if all three of them were in the writing of one scribe, we suspect lest they fell from the hand of the scribe and they were not [ever] loaned. And therefore, we do not return them.
  מצא שטר בין שטרותיו ואינו יודע מה טיבו – with him – if the borrower deposited it with him or the lender, or lest it was partially paid-off, and they delivered it to him to be the intermediary between them (i.e., the lender and the borrower).
  יהא מונח – in his hand, and he should not return it to either this one or the other one.
  ואם יש עמהן סמפון – [codicil]. The one who finds it amongst his documents a receipt that was written on one of his documents.
  יעשה מה שבסמפון – And the [loan] document was under the presumption of having been paid-off, and even though it would have been appropriate for this receipt to have been placed in the hand of the borrower and not in the hand of the lender/creditor, we say that the borrower trusted the lender and said: “tomorrow give it [the receipt] to me,” and he forgot. And this is the case of when a lender found this document upon which was written the receipt, between his torn documents even though it was not torn.
  
  
  
  
  
  Mishnah 1
  
  These are the findings. He [the finder] found scattered fruit. The unspecified case is that the owner had despair, and they are [now] ownerless. 
  Scattered Money. Since they don't have a noticeable marking, he [the owner] surely already had despair, and they are [now] ownerless. This is the reason for all of them.
  Sheaves. Small sheaves.
  In the public domain. Everybody threshes on them, and even if they [the sheaves] had a marker, it [the marker] was lost.
  Belonging to a baker. They don't have a marker, since all of them [baker's bread] are the same. However, home-baked bread has a marker.
  Brought from the country. [This is] to exclude those brought from a professional, as the next mishnah teaches.
  Purple wool. Wool that was died purple, and it was combed to look like a tongue.
  He found a cake. Of figs.
  Merchandise. New items that aren't familiar looking, and the owner hasn't gotten used to how they look. This is because sometimes lost items are returned just from recognizing them, for example to a scholar who doesn't lie. These items that are known that their owner's haven't gotten used to how they look aren't obligated to be announced. The halacha is like Rabbi Shimon son of Elazar. When [is this true]? When you find them one by one. However, if you find them two by two, you are obligated to announce, since their number is a marker. Someone who finds something in the street, or a large plaza in a city that has a non-Jewish majority, even if it [the item] has a marker, there is no obligation to announce. [However], in a city with a Jewish majority, there is an obligation to announce.
  
  Mishnah 2
  
  In a vessel. A vessel has a marker.
  As it is. Empty.
  Heaps of fruit. Their marker is either their number or location.
  Three coins stacked one on top of another. Or more. The announcer announces "I found coins", and he [the one who lost it] comes and says "Such and such [were their number] and they were placed on top of another".
  
  Mishnah 3
  
  Behind a ledge. A closed wall of wood or reeds.
  Fence. of stones.
  Tied-together fledglings. in their wings. [They were tied] in a way that everyone does, and a knot like this isn't a marker.
  Don't touch them. Since we say a person hid them, and if he takes them the owner doesn't have a marker. Therefore he [the finder] should leave them until their owner will come and take them.
  Covered don't touch it. Since this isn't a lost item that includes the transgression "You are not allowed to hide yourself [from it]", since it is in a guarded spot.
  He found it in a stone-pile or an old wall these belong to him. Since he [the finder] can say to the owner [of the pile or wall] this [found item] belonged to the Amorites that our ancestors inherited. This is only if the item is very rusty, that it is noticeable that it has been hidden for a very long time.
  From the middle to the outside. In one of the holes adjacent to the public domain. If he found it from half the thickness of the wall to the outside, it is his, since we say one of the passerbys placed it there and forgot. The rust on it proves it has been there a long time, and the owner has surely despaired. This rule is specifically with gold or silver pieces and the like. However, if it was a vessel with money in it, if the vessel's mouth faces outside it belongs to him [the finder]. If the vessel's mouth faces inward, it belongs to the owner [of the wall].
  Even inside the house it belongs to him. Since we don't know who they belong to, and the owner had despair.
  
  Mishnah 4
  
  If he found them in a store they're his. This is referring to something without a marker. The owner who dropped it has had despair, since everyone enters there [the store].
  Between the counter. that the shopkeeper sits in front of, which he always takes from and places on to sell [things], and the money that he is given he places in it, and nothing ever falls except from the shopkeepers hand.
  In front of of the money-changer, these belong to him [the finder]. Since we say that they fell from those who brought money to exchange. The table interrupts between the money-changer and the money that was found, and if they fell from the money-changer they should have found them between themselves and the seat the table is placed on.
  Someone who purchases fruits from their friend etc. For example their friend is a merchant who purchased this produce or these fruits from many people, and he doesn't know who these belonged to, and since they don't have a marker the owner has despair. However, if the one who is selling the fruits took them himself from his land, then the money is definitely his, and there is a obligation to return them.
  If they were tired. Their knot or their number is a marker.
  
  Mishnah 5
  
  In the general rule of all of these. In the general category of "All the lost items of your brother".
  Why was it specified. "And thus shall you do to his garment".
  Just as a garment is special. An unspecified garment has a marker, and all garments have an owner that is claiming it, since it was made by someone and didn't come from nowhere.
  So too anything that has claimants. This is to exclude something that was despaired upon. And despair is when you hear him say "Woe to my loss of purse".
  
  Mishnah 6
  
  His neighbours. The neighbours of the place where the item was found, lest it belongs to one of them.
  In order that each one will go their home in three days. from when he hears the announcement and knows if he lost anything, and if he sees he lost it he'll return [there] in three [days] and announce for one day "I lost it and these are its markers", and the halacha is like Rabbi Yehudah. Since the Temple was destroyed, they [the sages] enacted that announcements should be made in the synagogues and study halls. And since the aggressors increased, those that say "Lost items go to the King", they [the sages] enacted that he [the finder] should inform his neighbours and those he knows and that's sufficient.
  
  Mishnah 7
  
  Anything which does work and eats. If the lost item is something that you can feed with the produce of its work, for example an ox or a donkey.
  One may use it [to do work] and feed it. Don't sell the found item, since all people are pleased with their animal which recognizes them already, and has trained it to their liking. [However] you are not obligated to take care of it forever, rather a chicken and a large animal you take care for 12 months. Calves and baby horses for pasture, meaning that they aren't grown to fatten them up, and similarly kids and sheep, you take care of them for 3 months. Calves for fattening you take care of for 30 days. Geese and roosters, small ones you take care of for 30 days and big ones (which eat a lot) you take care of for 3 days. After this time you take them for yourself and assess their value, or you sell them to others and hide the money.
  Therefore if they [the money] were lost he is responsible. Since the Rabbis permitted him to use them [the money], even though he didn't use them, he is considered as if he used them, and he is responsible. The halacha is like Rabbi Tarfon regarding the value of a lost item which was sold. However, money itself that was lost, for example he found money in a purse or three coins that were on top of another, he is not to use them at all.
  
  Mishnah 8
  
  Once in 30 days. Since they get moldy if you delay opening them. All of their books were made like a scroll.
  Roll. From their beginning to their end to allow air to enter.
  For the first time. What he has never learnt. This is because he would require leaving it [open] in front of him for longer.
  And another should not read with him. Since this one pulls towards himself and this one pulls towards himself and it will break.
  Spread it out for its sake. To allow it to air out so moths won't destroy it.
  For their sake. This is because they get moldy in the ground. You need to put them in the ground since this is how they are guarded. Therefore they should be used occasionally.
  But don't wear them out. Don't use them for a long time until they wear out.
  Don't touch them. Gold doesn't get moldy in the ground. Similarly glass. Further it [glass] is easy to break.
  Which is undignified to pick up. Something that is degrading to him. The Torah said "And you hid yourself from them", [implication is] that sometimes you can hide, for example an elder and it's beneath his dignity.
  
  Mishnah 9
  
  What is considered a lost item. That it is apparent that the owner isn't aware that the item is there.
  This is not a lost item. You are not obligated to return it, since it was intentionally placed there.
  Running between the vineyards. It's legs are being destructive.
  You shall surely return them. The torah included [in this statement] many returnings.
  Don't say to him [the owner] give me a sela. Since this one [the owner] says to him [the finder] "If you had done your normal work, you would have been very burdened, now [that you instead took care of this item] take according to what you actually were burdened."
  Like an idle laborer. How much a person would be willing to reduce his wage to avoid this difficult work that he is doing and do this light work [taking care of the item].
  If there is a court there. If he doesn't want to be idle from his work. Since his wages are high, what can he do? If there are three men there, he stipulates in front of them and says "See that I am paid such and such. It is not possible [for me] to be idle and take a small wage, if you will tell me that I will take and be paid my [normal] wages. I will then take care of this lost item."
  His own takes precedence. And he leaves the lost item.
  
  Mishnah 10
  
  He found it in a stable. Even though it [the animal] isn't secured in it, for example [the stable] isn't locked.
  If it was in a cemetary. And he [the finder] is a Kohen. He shouldn't become impure [to retrieve it]. This is because returning a lost object is a positive commandment, "You shall surely return it to your brother". [However,] with impurity for a Kohen, it is the positive commandment of (Leviticus 21:6) "They shall be holy", and the negative commandment of (Leviticus 21:1) "They shall not become impure for a soul of their nation". And a positive commandment does not push aside a positive commandment plus a negative commandment.
  Or he says to him don't return it. And the lost item is in a place that it is a mitzvah to [retrieve and] return. He [the finder] should not listen to him [his father]. As it is written (Leviticus 19:3) "A man should fear their mother and father, and my Sabbaths he should guard", [this teaches us] that if your father tells you go and break the Shabbat, don't listen to him. Similarly with all other commandments.
  He went and sat down. The owner of the donkey.
  It's a commandment from the Torah to unload. for free.
  But don't load. for free; rather for pay.
  Rabbi Shimon says even load. for free. The halacha is not like Rabbi Shimon.
  Rabbi Yossi HaGlili says etc. The halacha is not like Rabbi Yossi.
  
  Mishnah 11
  
  His lost item comes first. Since the verse says (Deuteronomy 15:4) "There will be no destitute amongst you", [this indicates] you should be cautious that you don't become destitute.
  His Rabbi's comes first. This is referring to his main Rabbi, who he learnt most of his wisdom from. So too all the times in the Mishnah it mentions "His Rabbi" coming before his father, this is only referring to his main Rabbi.
  
  
  
  
  
  Mishnah 1
  
  המפקיד. ולא רצה לישבע – the oath of the bailees, for he was able to make himself exempt if he took an oath that he did was not negligent with it and did not make illegitimate use of it.
  למי שהפקדון שלו – for since he paid, he has acquired all of its indemnities. And even if he did not pay but rather since he said in the Jewish court that he would pay, he has acquired all of the indemnities. There is no difference made between double indemnity or four/five times the indemnity.
  
  Mishnah 2
  
  השוכר פרה מחבירו – and the renter/leasee stood and lent it (i.e., the cow) to another with the permission of the lender. But if the leaser had not given permission, we establish that a bailee who transferred [an object] to another bailee is liable.
  ישבע השוכר – to the leaser
  שמתה כדרכה – and is exempt [from payment], for the renter is exempt from unavoidable accidents.
  והשואל – who is liable for unavoidable accidents , pays the renter, with an oath that he swears to the landlord.
  אמר רבי יוסי: כיצד הלה עושה סחורה וכו' – And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yosi.
  
  Mishnah 3
  
  אמר לשנים: גזלתי לאחד מכם – And they do not make a claim against him at all, but he wants to fulfill [his responsibility] according to heaven.
  נותן לזה מנה ולזה מנה – but two who make claim and he admits that the stole from one of them, every one takes an oath that he stole from him. The Sages imposed a fine upon him because he translated on לא תגזול/”you shall not commit robbery” (Leviticus 19:13); and similarly, two who make a claim against one, each one says: “My father deposited with you a Maneh.” And he states: “The father of one of you left with me a Maneh but I do not know which one [of you];” each one of them swore that his father left with him a Maneh, and he gives a Maneh to this one and a Maneh to that one. For he had committed an act of negligence against himself for he should have paid attention and to remember who left with him the Maneh.
  
  Mishnah 4
  
  שנים שהפקידו אצל אחד זה מנה וזה מאתים – such as the case where both of them deposited together one before the other.
  נותן לזה מנה ולזה מנה וכו' – that he said to them: you who were not particular together, and you did not suspect each other, lest his fellow would claim the two-hundred. I also do not deceive myself to be particular about who gets the two-hundred. And they make it as if they placed all three-hundred in one bundle/bag , so they would not have to be particular about what one party has in it and what his fellow has in it.
  מה הפסיד הרמאי – for he will never admit the truth.
  
  Mishnah 5
  
  וכן שני כלים – For the Rabbis, it is necessary for him. For not only this, but also that are taught. Not that it is necessary for one to have a Maneh and the other to have two-hundred Maneh, for there is no loss through the breaking of a utensil, the rabbis said that he should give to this one a Maneh and to that one a Maneh, but even with two utensils where there is loss that it is necessary to break to larger utensil to give from it the monetary value of the smaller one, and when Elijah comes, it is found that the owner of the larger utensil loses when his utensil is broken. And I might think that in this the Sages agree with Rabbi Yosi that everything is left aside until Elijah will come, but it comes to teach us the exact opposite. And the Halakha is like the Sages.
  
  Mishnah 6
  
  אבודים – through mice or decay
  לא יגע בהן – to see them since each person wants his Kab from the nine Kabim of his fellow. His Kab is beloved to him because he had toiled for it, from the nine Kabim of others that he would purchase with their monetary value if he would sell them. And the Rabbis said that he should not touch them, for they have not lost other than up to the diminution that is explicitly mentioned in our Mishnah: for wheat and rice Nine half-Kabim to a Kor, etc. But if they lost more than their diminution [in value], the Sages agree with Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel that they sell them in the Jewish court. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.
  
  Mishnah 7
  
  המפקיד פירות אצל חבירו – and that which was deposited was combined with his produce and he was doubtful from them and did not know the measure of what he had consumed. And when he comes to restore them, he should take out the loss, deducting what they normally deduct [due to the produce 3consumed by mice].
  תשעה חצאי קבין לכור – A Kor = 30 Seah and Seah = 6 Kabim.
  הכל לפי הזמן – Ass such for each and every Kor.
  הכל לפי הזמן – for each and every year he should duct for him such-an-amount
  מה איכפת להו לעכברים – Such-[an-amount] they eat from a small portion just like from a large portion. Therefore, nine and one-half Kabim per year whether from a Kor or from ten Korim.
  אם היתה מדה מרובה – that he deposited with him a lot, from ten korim and upwards, he should take out the losses.
  מפני שהן מותירות – for during the days of the granary when they deposit the wheat which is dry, and in the rainy days, when they return it, it blows up. And regarding the consumption by mice, the loss is not so great for each Kor, the mice do not eat all that much from the ten Korim. Therefore, their blowing-up [in the rainy season], restores what the mice consume. And the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda nor according to Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri. And all of these measures are [what applies] in the Land of Israel and during the days of the Tannaim, but in other lands at these times, all is dependent upon what the seeds normally lose in that particular country and time.
  
  Mishnah 8
  
  יוציא לו שתות יין – if he deposited with him wine and it got combined with his, the wine vessel absorbs one-sixth.
  רבי יהודה אומר: חומש – since the ground from which they made the wine-vessels in the place of Rabbi Yehuda absorbed one-fifth. And everything is according to the place.
  אף המוכר וכו' – Just as they said that there are lees with the depositor , so too they said regarding the seller. For one who sells oil to his fellow and always gives him from his barrels refined oil which is sufficient from him, the purchaser accepts upon himself to deduct from him a log-and-a-half from the walls of the sediment for every one-hundred log. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
  
  Mishnah 9
  
  לא יחדו לה הבעלים מקום – in the house of the bailee, to say to him: “lend me this corner.”
  לצרכו – to use it
  לצרכה – that was in a place that it is close to being broken.
  אם משהניחה – that he completed his usage [of it], he placed it in a well-guarded place. Whether he carried it initially for his own needs, whether he carried it for its needs, he is exempt, since we say from he returned it, it is in the owners’ domain as [it was] originally, and concerning it, he is nothing other than an unpaid bailee and is exempt from its unavoidable accidents. And even though he did not inform its owners to say, I took it and returned it. The first part of our Mishnah [is according to] Rabbi Yishmael who said regarding a person who stole a lamb from the flock and [later] returned it to its place, that he is exempt for we do not require the knowledge of the owners. And that which teaches that the owners did not specify a place for it as he returned it to its place after it was used for his needs, that he is exempt, and even though he did not inform the owners, he did return it to its designated/unique place. But even if the owners did not designate a specific/unique place, that when he returned it, it was not to the designated/unique place, he is exempt, for since he returned it to the protected/guarded place, that we did not require the knowledge of the owners.
  ובין שהניחה לצרכו חייב – this end [of the Mishnah] is attributed to Rabbi Akiva, who said that a person who steals a lamb from a flock and returned it to its place and it met with an accident, he [i.e., the person who stole it] is always liable, until he informs the owners that he stole [the lamb] and returned [it]. And here also, after he used it for his own needs, and became a thief, regarding it, even though he left it (i.e., the lamb) in a guarded place. And that it is taught at the end [of the Mishnah] , “that the owners designated a particular place, we say that it was not necessary; it was not necessary that they did not designate that he is liable when he placed [the lamb], after he used it for his own needs, for he did not place it in the designated place for it, but even if they (i.e., the owners) designated a place, when he returned and put in its place, he is liable, for we require the knowledge of the owners. And the beginning of the Mishnah is [according to] Rabbi Yishmael and the end of the Mishnah is [according to] Rabbi Akiva. And this is how we establish it in the Gemara.
  
  Mishnah 10
  
  צררן – in his kerchief/scarf
  והפשילן לאחוריו – even though that this is high-level guarding, he is liable, for a person who carries deposited monies from place to place, they lack guarding other than in his hand, as it is written (Deuteronomy 14:24): “Wrap up the money (in your hand) [and take it with you to the place that the LORD your God has chosen].” Even though they are wrapped up, they will be “in your hand.” And if it is in the house, they lack [appropriate] guarding other than in the ground, or in the wall, in the handbreadth closest to the ceiling or the handbreadth closest to the ground. For it is not the manner of thieves to search there. But if he guarded it in another manner, he is negligent and liable, other than if initially, he made a condition with the depositor that for this condition he will accept the deposit, that he would not be liable for all of these forms of guardianship.
  לבנו ולבתו הקטנים – but for adults, they take an oath that they guarded in the [appropriate] manner of bailees and are exempt. But we do not say regarding this that a bailee who transferred [the object] to another bailee is liable, for it is the way of a person to entrust what has been deposited in his hand – in the hand of his wife and his children. And all who make a deposit, with the knowledge that when he deposits something, that the one commissioned will give them into the hands of his wife and/or his children.
  
  Mishnah 11
  
  אם צרורין – and signed, or tied with a distinctive tie
  לא ישתמש בהן – but if they are not signed or tied with a distinctive tie, even though they are wrapped, they are as permissible and as if they were not tied at all, and it is permissible to use them.
  חייב באחריותן – and even if they were not used, he is [considered] regarding them as a paid bailee, because he is able to use them, and he liable for theft and loss. And if they were used, he is like a lender towards it and he is liable even for unavoidable accidents.
  רבי יהודה אמר: כשולחני – and the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda
  
  Mishnah 12
  
  ילקה בחסר וביתר – from what the deposit is missing and/or how much it increased, such as the case where a person deposited with him a ewe/sheep laden with wool, or pregnant, and it was sheered or it gave birth after he misappropriated it/made illegitimate use of it, he pays for it and for its shorn wool or its offspring, and it results that he is flogged for how much it became [worth] less, or increased, for if it had become pregnant or laden with wool while she was with him, he pays for it as it was laden or pregnant as it is currently, and he is flogged for an increase/addition.
  ובית הלל אומרים: כשעת הוצאה – From the house of the owners, and if is laden, it is laden, and if it is bare, bare.
  רבי עקיבא אומר כשעת התביעה – as the deposit is (i.e., the condition of the animal) at the time that of its appearance in court, as it is written (Leviticus 5:24): “…He shall pay it to its owner when he realizes his guilt.” He shall give like he is on the day of his guilt, on the day when he is found guilty in court. And the Halakha is according to the School of Hillel.
  החושב לשלוח יד בפקדון – he said in in the presence of witnesses, “I will take his the deposit of so-and-so for myself.”
  בית שמאי מחייבים – As it is written (Exodus 22:8): “In all charges of misappropriation –[pertaining to an ox, an ass, a sheep, a garment, or any other loss, whereof one party alleges, ‘This is it,’]…” from the time that he spoke to misappropriate, he is considered negligent.
  עד שישלח בו יד – As it is written (Exodus 22:7): “…that he has not laid hands on the other’s property.” And this, “In all charges of misappropriation” (Exodus 22:8), the School of Hillel expounds upon this. He says to his servant or to his agent to misappropriate the deposit. Froom when is he liable? There is a teaching in the Scriptural text to intimate, the text reads: “In all charges of misappropriation” (Exodus 22:8).
  כיצד? הטה את החבית – Now he explains the words of the School of Hillel, and there are books which don’t read "כיצד"/how? And it is a matter for itself.
  ונשברה – after a time
  אינו משלם אלא רביעית – misappropriation does not make one liable for unavoidable accidents until he takes possession by drawing/seizing an object or lift it up which is acquisition.
  הגביהה ונטל – not exactly took, for when it is lifted up in order to to take [something], he is liable for an unavoidable accident, even if he didn’t take anything from it. But if he took a fourth of a Log (a LOG = 6 eggs in volume) from the barrel, and the rest of the wine in the barrel fermented afterwards, even though he did not lift the barrel up, he pays for all the wine, for he caused the wine to ferment, and it is his act that helped it [get sour] (see Bava Metzia 44a).
  
  
  
  
  
  Mishnah 1
  
  הזהב קונה את הכסף – Each thing that is considered to be a coin and currently passing to be given in expenditure (of money), it has the law of coinage. But where it is not considered to be a coin and currently passing, it has the law of merchandise. And his taking possession by drawing towards one’s self the object to be acquired is the establishment of the matter. Therefore, from when one draws [towards oneself] the gold denar, the second has acquired the silver denar in whatever place they are, and neither one of them can retract in this, for the golden denars are [considered] produce in regard to the silver denars.
  והכסף אינו קונה את הזהב – since the silver denars are currently passing in expenditure [of money], they have the law of money with regard to golden denars. And if one [of them] pulled the silver denars, the other did not acquire the golden denars, until he pulls [the golden denars], for the money does not purchase, and that is the reason also why cooper acquires the silver, for pennies of copper whose passing is not so important [in the expenditure of money], they are produce in regard to the silver denars, and the silver does not purchase the copper.
  מעות הרעות – which became invalidated
  אסימון – that was made in the manner of current coinage but it still had not stamped upon it a feature.
  כל המיטלטלין קונין זה את זה – if he exchanged these for those, since the one that pulled/drew towards one’s self, the other fellow acquired [the other object]. And this word כל/”all” – includes even a purse filled with money [in exchange] for a purse filled with money.
  
  Mishnah 2
  
  נתן לו מעות ולא משך ממנו פירות יכול לחזור בו – [both] this one and that one. And it is an ordinance of the Sages, for according to the Written Torah, money does acquire, as we found concerning property dedicated to the Temple, as it is written (Leviticus 27:19): “[and he shall give the money] and it shall pass to him.” And what is the reason that they said that pulling/drawing towards one’s self acquires and not money? It is a decree lest the purchaser leave his acquisition in the seller’s house for long time and a fire spreads in the seller’s neighborhood and he would not be troubled to do what was required to save [what he sold]. Therefore, they placed them in his permission to retract from it (i.e., the sale) if he desired, for since if they increased in value while in his possession, it would increase [in value] and he would retract from the sale and the profit would be his. It is considered by them to be his and he would go to the trouble to save [it].
  אבל אמרו מי שפרע וכו' – even though he is able to retract from [the sale]. We curse him in the Jewish court and say about him: He who punished the men of the generation of the Flood and from the generation which witnessed the separation of races (i.e., the Tower of Babel) and from the men of Sodom and Gomorrah and from the Egyptians who drowned in the sea, he will punish him who does not stand by his word (although the court cannot compel him – see Tosefta Bava Metzia 3:14; Talmud Bava Metzia 47b), and afterward he returns to him his money.
  רבי שמעון אומר: כל שהכסף בידו ידו על העליונה – Rabbi Shimon is referring to the matter of the First Tanna/teacher [of our Mishnah] who said: “he gave him money, but [the other] did not draw from him towards himself the merchandise – may retract,” whether it is the seller or the purchaser, and Rabbi Shimon comes to say that sometimes the person who has the money in his hand, the seller, who received the money, has the upper hand, and it is in hand to uphold the sale if he wants, but the purchaser cannot retract in it, such as [for example], the attic of the purchaser was lent to the seller, for now if the seller wishes that the sale is upheld, the purchaser cannot retract, even though he has not pulled the object towards himself. And what is the reason why the Rabbis have stated that “pulling” acquires and not money? It is a decree lest the seller will say to the purchaser: “your wheat has burned in the attic;” here where it is the attic of the purchaser, if a fire broke out , he would trouble himself and bring it (i.e., the wheat). But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon, but rather, even though the attic of the purchaser has been lent to the seller, all the while that he has not drawn [the wheat] towards himself, he can retract, whether he is the purchaser or the seller.
  
  Mishnah 3
  
  האונאה ארבעה כסף – four silver MAOT in which there are six MAOT in a denar, and the SELAH is four denarim.
  מעשרים וארבעה כסף לסלע – if the purchase was in SELAH monies which is twenty-four MAOT, for now it would be that overcharging is one-sixth to the purchase, he would be liable to restore to him all of his overcharging [which is] four silver [coins].
  עד מתי מותר להחזיר – he who was defrauded, and that the Mishnah used the language of מותר/”permitted” to teach us that it is not possible, for even he who is punished to return the purchase or that he should give him [back] his overcharge.
  עד כדי שיראה – the purchase to the traveling merchant or to his relatives. And if he delayed further, he renounced on his overcharging and the seller will always retract, for the purchase is not in his hands that he is would be able to show it to the traveling merchant or to his relatives if he had been overcharged. And if it becomes known that a thing came into his hands like that which is similar to his sale and he knows that he erred and was silent and did not make a claim, he cannot retract and make a claim for he has renounced it.
  ושמחו תגרי לוד – who were experts in business and sell at a high price. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Tarfon.
  
  Mishnah 4
  
  אין אונאה לתגר – because is an expert and without further qualification pardons him, and this that he sold, because it happened by chance another sale. And now, it had been established to retract. Bu the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
  מי שהוטל עליו ידו על העליונה – he who was defrauded.
  תן לי מעותי – if the purchaser had been defrauded. And our Mishnah is according to Rabbi Yehuda the Prince. But the Halakha is not according to him, but rather if overcharging is one-sixth, he purchased and returns the overcharged [amount]. If it is greater than one-sixth, the purchase is nullified.
  
  Mishnah 5
  
  כמה תהא סלע חסרה – current coinage it is always rubbed and is lacking [in its weight]. How much should it be lacking and if one spent it there would be no fraudulent representation (which would invalidate the transaction)?
  ארבעה איסרין – for every Sela.
  איסר לדינר – and it is one out of twenty-four, for six Me’ah of silver is a Denar, a M’ah is two Pundiyonim and a Pundiyon is two Issarim.
  ארבעה פונדיונים – one out of twelve.
  שמונה פונדיונים – one-sixth, and such is the Halakha.
  
  Mishnah 6
  
  בכרכים – where there is a money-changer; until he can show it to the money-changer.
  בכפרים – where there is no money-changer.
  עד ערבי שבתות – who comes to spend it on Fridays for Sabbath meals, for then he would know if he is able to spend it and receive it (i.e., its equivalent value) from him.
  ואם היה מכירה – this is how it should be understood: if he is a righteous individual, and wants to act with equity, if he recognizes that it is the Selah that he gave him, he will accept it from him even after twelve months.
  ואין לו עליו אלא תרעומת – this is how it should be understood: and the other who is not a righteous individual and did not want to accept it from him, he has nothing against him other than a complaint/quarrel against him; and he himself who caused him personal loss, in that he did not return it at the appropriate time.
  ונותנה למעשר שני – he is speaking of the loss according to the measure of fraud, and he gives it for Second Tithe at its equivalent value, and does not worry because of the uncoined metal which Second Tithe cannot be redeemed for other than a coin which has a form, for it has the name of a coin upon it, and whomever does not take it at its equivalent value as a valid coin, other that something like a piece of silver or gold bar (as opposed to a coined metal), is not other than an evil person.
  
  Mishnah 7
  
  האונאה ארבעה כסף – for the purchase of a Selah which is a twenty-four silver Ma’ot. It is found that fraud is one-sixth as we have said. And [the Tanna of the Mishnah] repeated it because he had to teach about pleas/claims which are two silver Ma’ot (see Mishnah Shevuot, Chapter 6, Mishnah 1).
  הטענה שתי כסף – for there is no oath imposed by the judges on a claim which is less than two silver [M’ah], for his plea is equivalent to two silver M’ah that I have in your hand, and he would admit from them the equivalent of a Perutah/penny, and denies the rest, or he admits to the entire thing and denies a Perutah.
  ההודאה שוה פרוטה – to be a partial admission that he would be liable to take an oath.
  המוצא שוה פרוטה – but less than this, he is not obligated to announce, as it is written (Deuteronoomy 22:3): “[…and so too shall you do with anything] that your fellow loses [and you find: you must not remain indifferent],” except for a lost object that is not worth the equivalent of a Perutah.
  יוליכנו אחריו – if he admit that he swore falsely, for then, he has no atonement until he actually returns it to his hand, and not to the hand of his agent, as it is written (Numbers 5:7): “…giving to him who he has wronged.”
  
  Mishnah 8
  
  האוכל תרומה – the Great [Priest’s Due] (i.e., 2%). A foreigner (i.e., non-Kohen) who ate the Great Terumah/Priest’s Due.
  ותרומת מעשר – a tithe from a tithe (i.e., the gift that the Levite gives to a Kohen – one-tenth of what he receives).
  ותורמת מעשר של דמאי – He who purchases grain from an ignoramus, needs to separate the tenth-of-a-tenth, but not the Great Priest’s Due, for everyone was careful with it.
  וחלה וביכורים – all of these five are one, and all of them are called “Terumah”/Priest’s Due, and from one denomination they come.
  נטע רבעי – he derives "קודש"/”holy” (Leviticus 19:27) from "קודש" /”holy” (Leviticus 27:30) from Second Tithe, that one adds one fifth, and both of them are all considered one thing, since from one Biblical verse they are derived, since they are derived from Second Tithe.
  ומעשר שני שלו – exactly, and he adds one-fifth, since it is written (Leviticus 27:31): “[If anyone wishes to redeem] any of his tithes, he must add one fifth to them.”
  הקדשו – and not of others, for the word "המקדיש"/”who consecrates (Leviticus 27:19 – “And if he who consecrates the land wishes to redeem it, he must add one-fifth to the sum at which it was assessed, and it shall pass to him.”) is written.
  הנהנה – inadvertently, is liable for a sacrifice of sacrilege (i.e., unlawful use of sacred property) and one-fifth.
  
  Mishnah 9
  
  אלו דברים שאין להם אונאה וכו' – as Scripture states (Leviticus 25:14): “When you sell property to your neighbor, or buy any from your neighbor, [you shall not wrong one another],” a thing that is acquired from hand to hand, excluding land which are not movables, excluding slaves which is juxtaposed to land; excluding documents. As it is written (Leviticus 25:14): “When you sell property…” a thing whose essence is sold and whose essence is bought, excluding documents which do not stand other than for seeing what is in them. Things dedicated to the Sanctuary/Temple, Scripture states, “[you shall not wrong] one another/one’s brother, and not dedicated to the Temple.
  לא תשלומי כפל – it is written in the pleading of the claim of the thief (Exodus 22:8): “In all charges of misappropriation” – a generalization; “pertaining to an ox, an ass, etc.,” – a specification; “or any other loss” – he has returned and made a generalization. A generalization, a specification and a generalization, you only judge what is like the specification. Just as the specification is explained as something that is movable and its essence is money, , even all things that are movable and its essence is money. This excludes land which is not movable. This excludes slaves which are juxtaposed to land. This excludes documents even though they are movable, their essence is not money. Dedications to the Temple, Scripture said, “to his neighbor/fellow” (Exodus 22:8); his neighbor/fellow, and not to that which is dedicated to the Temple.
  ולא תשלומי ארבעה וחמשה – If a person stole and slaughtered or sold an ox or a sheep dedicated to the Temple, for the four and five-times payment (Exodus 21:37 – “When a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox, and four sheep for the sheep.”), the All-Merciful stated, and not three-times payment for the sheep and four-times [payment] for the ox, for the since it is excluded from double [payment]. Deduct one from it, for the double [payment] is for someone who slaughters or sells, which are included in the four and five-times payment.
  נושא שכר אינו משלם – as it is written (Exodus 22:9): “When a man gives to another…” – generalization; “ “an ass, an ox, a sheep” – a specification; “or any other animal to guard”- a generalization. A generalization, a specification and a generalization, you do not judge other than what is like the specification. Just as the specification is explained as a thing that is movable, etc. Things dedicated to the Temple – Scripture said: “his fellow/neighbor,” and not something dedicated to the Temple.
  קדשים שחייב באחריותן – He said, a burnt-offering is upon me and he separated it and it became blemished/defective or he sold it.
  יש להם אונאה – for since if it died or it was stolen, he is liable for it [by replacing it], which is his, and we call it (Leviticus 25:14): “you shall not wrong one another.”
  
  
  מרגלית ובהמה – because a person wants to pair them. Whomever has a nice ox for ploughing will go around after another that is like it [to join it with the other with a yoke] for if he comes to join under a yoke a weak ox with a healthy [one], it would ruin the healthy one, and similarly a nice precious stone to be filled with its partner with gold from the individual [stone]. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda nor according to Rabbi Shimon.
  
  Mishnah 10
  
  כל אונאה בדברים – as it is stated (Leviticus 25:17): “Do not wrong one another, but fear your God; [for I the LORD am Your God],” this is stated with regard to the wrong one does with words, for their goodness nor their evil is not given to be recognized other than in the heart of the person who speaks who knows if for evil he intended them or for good.
  
  Mishnah 11
  
  אין מערבין פירות בפירות – the house owner who says to his fellow – that the produce of a certain field I am selling to you, he should not mix with them the produce of another field.
  ואין צריך לומר חדשים בישנים – He agreed to sell him old [grain], he should not mix with them new [grain], for the old are dry and make more flour than the new.
  מפני שמשביחו – the hard improves the soft, therefore, if he agreed with him [to sell him] soft and mixes into it hard, but if he agreed with him [to sell him] hard, he should not mix into it the soft.
  איןי מערבין שמרי יין – from this barrel with wine from a different barrel.
  אבל נותן לו את שמריו – of the wine itself.
  לא ימכרנו בחנות – a penny for a penny.
  אלא אם כן הודיע – to each one of them that water is mixed in with it.
  ולא לתגר – they should not sell them together, and even though they informed him, for he doesn’t take it other than to deceive and to sell it in the store.
  מקום שנהגו להטיל מים ביין – and specifically between the vats he can put [water’ for since they practiced thus, there is no error, for all the wines are in the presumption of such.’
  
  Mishnah 12
  
  התגר נוטל מחמש גרנות – for everyone knows about him that they were not grown in their fields, and that he purchases from many people and with the presumption that they purchase from him [as well].
  מגורה – storehouse where they collect grain. A granary, where they thresh the grain and it is the manner of the traveling merchant to purchase from house owners at the time of the granary and to bring them into his own storage facility.
  פיטס – a huge vessel.
  ובלבד שלא יתכוין לערבן – to publicize to purchase the majority from a praiseworthy place and to mix in it from another place, and his neighbors think that all the produce is from the same place.
  ולא יפחות את השער – to sell it cheaply, because he is accustomed to come with him and overwhelms the food of his friends.
  זכור לטוב – and as a result of this, those who store produce sell it cheaply. And this is the Halakha.
  גריסין – beans that are ground in the millstone, one for two.
  לא יבור – the worthless matter/refuse , because since hey look nice, he raises their price a great deal from the price of the refuse that he took from them.
  וחכמים מתירין – for the purpose is able to see and to distinguish how much the refuse that he has sifted costs from those that others have. And it is good for him to raise their price of those that are sifted out of great effort. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.
  שלא יבור מעל פי המגורה – upwards to show the nice ones, but the refuse that is within it, he did not sift.
  לפי שאינו אלא כגונב את העין – with this sifting.
  מפרכסין – they repair them and make them more beautiful.
  לא את הדאם – a Canaanite slave who stands to be sold.
  
  
  
  
  
  Mishnah 1
  
  איזהו נשך שהוא נושך – that he took from him what he (i.e., the other) didn’t give him.
  המרבה בפירות – he increases the reward for himself with produce, and whether by the loan of money or whether by the loan of produce it is interest, for he increases his money. But the concluding part of the Mishnah deals with Rabbinic interest, as it explains – which through the means of commercial transactions.
  דינר זהב – twenty-five silver denars.
  וכן השער – Such is how they were sold in the city, and it was permissible for him to give money now on the condition that he would give him the wheat all the days of the year with these monies according to the monetary rate, and even though that he doesn’t have the wheat right now. It is taught [in the Mishnah] of our chapter (Mishnah 7):, “when the market price is out, you may purchase, for although he (i.e., the seller) has not goods as yet, others have,” and this seller can purchase them now with these monies.
  עמדו חטין בשלשים דינרים אמר לו תן לי חיטי – and this is permissible, if he gives him the wheat, but if he fixed a price to give him for them wine, it is prohibited, lest the wine become more expensive, for since he doesn’t have any wine. And even though he fixed a price with him according to the current market price of wine, and the market price had gone out. For since he doesn’t give him money that we would be able to say that he could purchase wine with these monies tha the received, but he makes the value of the wheat an obligation and to set a price on his obligation of wine, this is prohibited if he lacks wine. For if he had wine, it would be purchased to him from now to the person who comes to set a price on the obligation of wine, and when it went up in price, it was in his possession when it went up in price.
  
  Mishnah 2
  
  מרבים על השכר – the wages in money for waiting for the rental.
  ואין מרבין על המכר – the wages in waiting for the sale. And the reason is that the rental is not completely paid off until the end; therefore, when he takes from a Sela per month which is twelve Selas [per year], this is not the wages in waiting for the monies, for he was not obligated to pay him the rent until the end of the month, and that which he said to him: “if you give it to me now, it is yours for ten Selas, if he would give it to him early, he would forgive him the cost of the rental and diminish it for him  for less than its value. But regarding a sale, then you make use of the object and the law is to give the money, and when he (i.e., the seller) says to him (i.e., the buyer): “if from now you give me, it is yours for one-thousand zuz, which is its cost and if it has already been at the granary, it is the reward for waiting for the monies [and is forbidden, as interest].
  מכר לו את השדה – And the same law applies for movables, and all business, if he sold it to him for more than its worth with the wages for waiting for the monies, it is forbidden, for it is the dust of interest according to the Rabbis And all dust of interest (i.e., indirect interest), if he gave it, it is not reclaimed through judges, whereas stipulated/direct usury from the Torah, is reclaimed through judges [i.,e in court] (see Talmud Bava Metzia 61b).
  
  Mishnah 3
  
  הבא מעות וטול את שלך אסור – He who brings excess monies that are upon you [to bring] and take your field, it is forbidden to do this. As in such a case where the seller said to the purchase: Go bring me excess monies and you purchase it from now, therefore, it is forbidden to do this, for if the seller were to consume the produce during this period, when he (i.e., the purchaser) brings the money, it is found that this field was sold to him from the day of the sale, but this one (i.e., the seller) ate the produce as the reward while waiting for the monies. But if the purchaser would consume the produce from now, for perhaps he would not bring the excess monies and would return to him (i.e., the seller) what he had received and it would be that the field had not been sold to hm, for when he would bring it (i.e., the monies), it would be sold to him from now he told him, but he didn’t bring it, and the first monies are like a mere loan in regard to the seller, and he ate the produce with his payment.
  הרי היא שלו – in such a case as when he (i.e., the purchaser) said to him, buy it from now – if I don’t bring to you [the monies] from now until three years, it is not an Asmakhta (i.e., a collateral security with the condition of forfeiture beyond the amount to be secured – see Bava Batra 168a), but a complete purchase, for on the condition that he sold it completely, he would hold it from now with these monies and he would lower the price and sell (some of the movable goods in order to raise the money – see Bava Metzia 77a), and he who received it, if he would return him his monies within three years, would receive them, and the produce would be left in the hand of a third-party, and if the borrower returned his monies to the lender within the three years, he would release the produce to the borrower, and if not, he would give the produce to the lender, for the field was sold to him at the time of the loan, and that loan was the cost of the field.
  
  Mishnah 4
  
  אין מושיבין חנוני למחצית שכר – the owner shall not say to the storekeeper: “Behold produce is sold in the market at four Seah for a Sela, and you sell them for pennies in the store and profit a Sela . Here is produce; return and sell them in the store and the we will [equally] divide the profits.” And the reason for the matter is that we have established this business that half of it is a loan and half of it is a deposit. A regular person who receives goods for half of the earnings, takes upon himself the responsibility for half of the principal and for accidents and the risk of reduction of prices (see Bava Metzia 64b). Therefore, that one-half since he has taken liability for accidents, it is considered a loan with him, for it is an estimation with the monies according to the market rate and the decision is tha the make take half of the profit. It is found that when he is engaged with the half [of the investment] belonging to the owner which is a deposit with him with the reward of waiting of the monies of the loan, and therefore is prohibited, unless he (i.e., the owner) gives him the salary for his labors that he is engaged in with that half [of the monies – which is a loan] like an idle worker for that labor that he is [currently] idle from, if he is a carpenter or a blacksmith – how much he wants to take to be idle from heaven labor like this and to do easier work.
  אין מושיבין תרנגולים למחצה – to estimate the monetary value of the eggs for the owner of the chickens to have them is upon them to grow the chicks for one-half of the reward, when the chicks are worth more than the value of the eggs, for this person accepts the responsibility for half of the cost of the eggs, if they are ruined or if the chickens die. He has received half of monies as a loan, and he is therefore raising the second half as a salary in waiting for the monies.
  מזונו – the food that is produced with the chicks.
  ואין שמין עגלים וסייחין למחצה – now they are worth such and such, and he accepted for you to raise them for two years for half of the profits, and for half of the loss if they die.
  אבל מקבלים עגלים וסייחם – small [calves and foals] without estimation, for if they should die, he would not have to pay anything , and if they live, they would divide [the profits] between them.
  ושיהיו משולשים – which means that they have reached one-third of their growth, they are then divided up.
  ובחמור עד שתהא טוענת – a burden. This was the custom to raise them prior to division.
  
  Mishnah 5
  
  שמין פרה – a large [cow] or a large donkey, which are worthy for labor, and their work is all for the recipient [of their labor].
  למחצה – to divide the profit that they earn, in money and offspring
  לחלוק את הולדות מיד – when the time arrives for their division, which for a small animal is thirty days and for a large animal fifty days.
  שמין עגל עם עמו – and it is not necessary to give work and food to a calf but rather [only] to the mother. But the Halakha is not according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel.
  ומפרין על שדהו – the language of “being fruitful and multiplying,” and there are those who read this as ומפריז with the letter “zayin” (instead of a final “nun”), in the language of (Zechariah 2:8): “Jerusalem shall be peopled as a city [without walls, so many shall be the men and cattle it contains],” that is to say, extend his field. And this is what he would tell him [the tenant on a fixed rent payable in kind to the landlord]: “You are accustomed to take your field in stipulated rent for ten Kors per year; lend me two hundred zuz that I can spend to manure this field, to sow it and to plough it and I will increase the stipulated rent to twelve Kors per year and I will return your monies” – this is permitted because it is as if he does more business him through these two Kors because he rents from him a good and praiseworthy field that his rental is better than the rental of a bad field.
  
  Mishnah 6
  
  אין מקבלין צאן ברזל – all mortgaged property (or property which may be resorted to in case of non – payment) are upon the receiver, and he placed upon them (i.e., the property) his resources, and all the time that he (i.e., the borrower) does not give him his monies, they divide the profit/wages. And even though this is an extraneous Mishnah, for it is taught in the Mishnah above (Mishnah 4), that they do not set up a storekeeper for half the profit because he receives on it one-half with loss, all the more so, here, when he receives all the mortgaged property upon it. They took it (i.e., the language) because of the concluding section of the Mishnah: “but they do accept a flock on ‘iron terms’ from the heathens.
  מדעת הנכרי – such as the case where an Israelite borrowed money from a heathen at interest and he requested to return them to him. He found another Israelite and said: give them to me and I will credit you (see Bava Metzia 69b) in the manner that you credit him (as compensation). If he restored them (i.e., the monies) to the heathen, even though an Israelite gives them to him at the command of a heathen, it is permitted, but if he didn’t restore them to the heathen, it is forbidden, for he has lent him [money] at interest.
  
  Mishnah 7
  
  היה הוא תחלה לקוצרים – and he has a stack/heap of grain but the market price has not yet been published.
  פוסק עמו – for whatever market price that he wants, and since he has it (i.e., pile of grain), there is no interest here, since from now that heap is acquired for him, and he though he did not take possession [by drawing or seizing], since he does not have it also, it is not other than the dust of interest of the Rabbis, but if he has it, a decree was not made.
  על העביט – a large utensil that they collect/pile up the grapes before treading and they become heated to producer their wine well, and of olives, it is called a vat or pit where olives are packed until they form a viscid mass.
  על הביצים של יוצר – if he brought in dust and made it eggs to make of them a dishes, he sets with him on the dishes for whatever price he wants, and even though the [official] price had not been publicized.
  ועל הסיד – he sets with him at whatever price that he wants from when he let them down into the kiln/furnace of wood and stones to burn them and make of them plaster.
  וחכמים מתירין – there is a difference between the Sages and the first Tanna [of the Mishnah], for the First Tanna speaks of all the days of the year and Rabbi Yosi disagrees with him and says that there is no difference between the dry season (i.e., literally, the “days of sunshine) and the days of the rainy season until the seller has manure in the dung heaps, but the Sages permit specifically during the days of sunshine, for even if he doesn’t have [manure], others have it, for everyone has manure which has decayed and became crushed during the rainy season, but not during the rainy season itself. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.
  כשער הגבוה – [according to the price at the height of the market – Bava Metzia 72b] – and if the market price became less than what it is now currently, give me according to the lowest market price. The height – that is the cheapest that when giving tall and much produce lesser costs.
  תן לי כזה או תן לי מעותי – for since he did not take possession (by pulling/seizing), he is able to retract, and even [the curse of] “He who punished [the generation of the Flood….will punish those who do not stand by his word (although the court cannot compel him) is not [applicable] , for he did not give his monies on the condition to receive [the produce] now, but rather later, and in the midst of things, the market price changed, it is the mere opinion of people of delighting in the cheap market price. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
  
  Mishnah 8
  
  חטין בחטין לזרע – It is permissible to lend to a tenant farmer (who tills the owner’s ground for a certain share in the produce, as opposed to a certain rent in kind/חכיר, irrespective of the yield of the crops) a Seah for a Seah (even though this is normally forbidden) specifically when he wants to sow with them, and the reason for this is that in the place where the tenant farmer is, when he gives the seed, if he didn’t have seed to sow the field, the owner would remove him, and when the tenant farmer borrows from the owner, and he sows [the field], when the wheat go up in price, he gives back wheat, this is not a loan, but rather for the tenant farmer, it is like he goes down into it (i.e., the field) from this moment, on the condition that the owner will take the seed first from the part that will arrive to the tenant farmer, and the tenant farmer will take the rest as the payment for his trouble, and on this condition, he will take less that the other tenant farmers according the measure of the seed, and there is no interest here.
  שהיה רבן גמלאל – that is to say, for this purposes, it was necessary to teach this Mishnah, for Rabbi Gamaliel was more stringent, for if thing became cheaper, he would take according the cheaper set price, and our Mishnah comes to teach us not the Halakha is as such, but rather that he wished to be more stringent upon himself.
  
  Mishnah 9
  
  הלויני עד שיבוא בני – because he has it (i.e., a Kor of wheat), it is all right. For the Rabbis did not make the decree other than when he didn’t have i. And if he didn’t have it other than one Seah, he would lend upon it several Kors, and on each one we would say, “this is in its place,” for it is not purchased/acquired by the lender, and it is in the hand of the borrower to sell it or to consume, and when he lends it ech one of them, he is lending with legal permission (i.e., it is a legitimate action).
  וכן היה הלל אומר לא תלוה אשה – but the Halakha is not according to Hillel, but rather the Halakha is according to the Sages who say that we lend undefined and collect debts undefined.
  
  Mishnah 10
  
  נכש עמי – [weed with me] today, and I will weed with you tomorrow. Weeding is the removal of bad grasses that grow in the grain.
  עדור – dig
  לא יאמר לו נכש עמי ואעדור עמך – sometimes this one is harder than that one, and there is here compensation for waiting (i.e., advancing the money to the seller – see Bava Metzia 63b).
  כל ימי גריד אחד – and we are not troubled if one day is greater than its neighbor (i.e., during the dry season/summer); and similarly, all the days of rainfall [in the autumn] are one, and it is permissible to say, hoe/dig with me on this day of the dry season/days of sunlight and I hoe/dig with you one day of the dry season/days of sunlight, and similarly with the days of rainfall.
  גריד – days of the sunlight.
  רביעה – days of rainfall.
  ואני אחרוש עמך ברביעה – for the days of rainfall are more difficult for the work in the fields
  
  Mishnah 11
  
  עוברים משום לא תתן וכו' – the lender transgresses in all of them; the borrower transgresses (Deuteronomy 23:20): “You shall not deduct interest from loans to your countrymen,” which is the language of activating others, that you should not cause that your brother will lend at interest, and he violates(Deuteronomy 23:21): “Do not deduct interest from loans to your countrymen”, and (Leviticus 19:14): “or place a stumbling block before the blind.” The guarantor and the witnesses transgress only on (Exodus 22:24):“Exact no interest from them.”
  
  
  
  
  
  Mishnah 1
  
  השוכר. והטעו זה את זה – One of the artisans whom the owner sent to hire his fellows and he deceived them, as for example: the boss told him to hire each person for four denars per day, and he went and hired them for three [denars per day], they have no recourse against him other than a complaint. For it was understood and accepted/agreed [that employment was to be offered] at three [denars per day], but they can say to him: you have nothing [quoting](Proverbs 3:27): “Do not withhold good from one who deserves it [when you have the power to do it (for him)]. Another interpretation of “they deceived one another”: They retracted and they didn’t want to go and do the work of the boss as they had been hired to do, or the owner [himself] retracted, such as if he said to them: I have no need for you this morning prior to their going out to the work.
  ואת הקרר – it is read with a “reish,” that is to say, the owner of the wagon.
  פרייפרין – planed wood to make a frame and hangings of a palanquin (especially for a bride in the wedding procession).
  
  
  מקום שאין שם אדם – that he does not find workers to hire and the flax is lost.
  שוכר עליהם – people according to the measure of their salary, but not greater than the measure of their salary.
  או מטען – he says that he will give them an extra zuz, but he doesn’t give them other than what he stipulated at first.
  
  Mishnah 2
  
  השוכר את האומנין – work on a contract (as opposed to time work): such work for such-and-such money.
  וחזרו בהם – after they did part of the work.
  ידם על התחתונה – if the price of workers increased and he does not find someone who will finish it at the salary that would come to those who would do so in the future, they withhold from their salary from what they did, all the while he needs to spend until his work is completed at the wages that he had stipulated with them. And if price of workers decreased, and he can find someone who will complete it (i.e., the work) for less, they should estimate for them what they did and give them what they stipulated; if they did half, he should give them half of their wages, and they cannot say to him: “Behold, other workers coming in place of us to complete your work and give us all of our salary except for what these [other workers] take.
  ואם בעה"ב חוזר בו ידו על התחתונה – he should give them according to what they did, and if the work performed was cheaper, he (i.e., the owner/boss), should by force give them as he stipulated, except for what he needs to expend in its completion.
  כל המשנה ידו על התחתונה – [See Mishnah Bava Kamma, Chapter 8, Mishnah 4 as the commentary below summarizes the contents of this Mishnah.] Such as the case where one gave wool to the dyer to be dyed read and he died it back, if the income from the improvement exceeds the outlay (see also Ketubot 80a), he does not give him his complete salary but only the cost of the outlay of wood and dyes, but if the [cost of the] outlay is greater than the improvements, then give him the value of the improvements.
  וכל החוזר בו ידו על התחתונה – to include the person who sells a field to his fellow for one thousand zuz and he (i.e., the purchaser) gave him from them two hundred zuz – and the seller retracted. The hand of the purchaser is on top. If he (i.e., the purchaser) wanted, he could say to him (i.e., the seller), “give me my money;” if he wanted, he could say to him, “give me land corresponding to my money [which is currently in your hands].” If the purchaser retracts, the hand of the seller is on top. If he (i.e., the seller) wanted, he could say to him (i.e., the purchaser), “here is your money,” If he wanted, he could say to him, “here is land corresponding to your monies.”
  
  Mishnah 3
  
  בהר והולכה בבקעה בבקעה והוליכה בהר – at the top of the mountain. And even though the path is smooth and straight, he is liable because it died as a result of the environment/atmosphere which was not smooth and not humid, since he changed it, one can say to him that she (i.e., the animal) did not die other than on account of the fact that it was not learned in the environment of the mountain and it was difficult for her. Or, it (i.e., the animal) was not learned in the environment of the valley and it was difficult for her. And because of this, there is no dispute here between its smoothness or its humidity, as it disputes at the end of the Mishnah.
  אם החליקה פטור – that on the mountain, it she is liable to slip more, for the top of the mountain is sharp and slanting to the sides.
  ואם חוחמה חייב – for in the valleys, the dust rises for the mountains are around it and the atmosphere does not have power over it, but if she becomes overheated on account of her ascent to the mountain, he is liable, for the ascent caused it, and he changed [the conditions] to cause her to walk on the mountain.
  והבריקה – (see Bava Metzia 78a) became blind through a cataract in the eye; another explanation: her legs decayed.
  או שנעשית אנגריא – she was taken into the service of the king.
  אומר לו הרי שלך לפניך – and specifically when he said to him – this donkey, which had been hired for [carrying] a burden. But if he hired it to ride upon hit, even if he said to him, “this donkey,” and he cannot say to him, this is yours before you, lest she fall under him on a bridge or she throws him off at one of the openings. And similarly, if he hired for him a mere donkey even for [carrying] a burden, he cannot say to him “yours is before you,” but he is obligated to assign to him another animal. And if he doesn’t assign to him another animal, he is not liable to give him anything from all fees of the way that he walked with it.
  מתה או נשברה חייב – He who rents it out sells the skin and the carcass [goes] to the dogs, adds money and assigns for him another animal, or he can rent him another with the monies of the carcass, for this donkey was mortgaged to him, or he can return him his payment.
  
  Mishnah 4
  
  השוכר את הפרה לחרוש וכו' – and all of the utensils of the plough go to the owner of the cow, and his youth go with his animal and plough with it.
  נשבר הקנקן – the pin of the plough which has the iron.
  חייב – for the mountains are harder to plough than the values because of the rocks that are there.
  ודש בתבואה – he is exempt if it is smooth.
  
  Mishnah 5
  
  והביא עליה שעורים – which are lighter than wheat
  חייב – for its ruin/damage if he added three Kabs. And we don’t say that since the barley is lighter, he can add up to the weight of a Letekh of Wheat which is burden of the donkey (see Bava Metzia 80a).
  מפני שהנפה קשה – for the animal as a burden. For even though its burden is not as heaven as the burden of wheat, their volume is like the volume of wheat and the volume is like a burden.
  לתך – one-half of a Kor, and Kor is 30 Seah..
  סומכוס אומר וכו' – and the Halakha is according to Sumkho, but if he added less than this measure, he is exempt if the donkey became injured and he only gives the cost of the addition alone.
  
  Mishnah 6
  
  כל האומנין – a contactor (a hired man paid for certain work when it is done; or, a tenant of land at a fixed rent) who accepts aupon themselves to do work in their homes.
  שומרי שכר – to be liable for theft and loss, and that benefit that he takes hold of a reward/payment for it, he is a paid bailee.
  וכולן שאמרו טול את שלך – for I have already completed it and I am not waiting to take my payment and after I bring it [to you], bring money. He is from that point on an unpaid bailee.
  שמור לי ואשמור לך – guard for me today and I will guard for you tomorrow. But [if he said]: you guard this for me and I will guard this for you this other object in its place, and all of it is at the same time. This is the guarding of the owners [with him] and he is exempt [from being liable for loss and/or theft].
  הנח לפני שומר חנם – but place it before you , or merely place it, he is not even an unpaid bailee, for he did not accept upon himself guarding [of it] at all.
  
  Mishnah 7
  
  הלוהו – money.
  על המשכון שומר שכר – whether he lent him and afterwards he (i.e., the borrower) gave a pledge, whether he gave a pledge and afterwards took a loan, what is the reward? It is the reward of the Mitzvah (see Bava Metzia 81b).
  הלוהו מעות שומר חנם – for Rabbi Yehuda does not hold the reward of a Mitzvah for the purposes of law.
  הלוהו פרות שומר שכר – for it is the manner of produce to decay/rot, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
  מותר אדם להשכיר – to others.
  משכונו של עני – that is in his hand.
  להיות פוסק עלו – a profit.
  והולך – always and lessen from the liability [of the loan]. And specifically with a pledge that the reward is great and its decrease is small such as a hoe and an ax (see Bava Metzia 82b) and similar kinds of things. And such is the Halakha.
  
  Mishnah 8
  
  בין שומר חנם ובין שומר שכר ישבע – for [he] holds that he should take an oath that he was not negligent and he would be exempt [from damages such as loss and/or theft].
  רבי אליעזר אומר זה וזה וישבע וכו' – Even I heard from my teachers according to Rabbi Meir, that both of them (i.e., the unpaid bailee and the paid bailee) should take an oath. But I am amazed at this (i.e., the unpaid bailee) and on that (i.e., the paid bailee) how they become exempt [from liability] with an oath. For the paid bailee – how can he be exempt with an oath that he was not negligent, for even without negligence, he is also liable, for this is not an unavoidable accident but is similar to theft and loss which are close to negligence and an unavoidable accident. And furthermore, if it wasn’t broken in a declivity, even the unpaid bailee, how is he able to take an oath that he was not negligent? For this is certainly negligence. But Rabbi Meir holds that this oath is not from the law, but rather an ordinance of the Sages, if you don’t exempt a person who transfers a barrel from place to place from the payment via this oath, there will not be any person who will [take upon himself the responsibility] to transfer a barrel for his fellow from place to place. Therefore, they (i.e., the Sages) ordained that he should take the oath without intention he broke the barrel and he is exempt.
  
  
  
  
  
  Mishnah 1
  
  השוכר את הפועלים. אינו ראשי לכופן – and even though he increase their wages from other works, he can say to them: “this that I have increased your wages, with the knowledge that you will rise up earlier [to work] and stay later for me, for they can say to him: “this that you have increased for us [our wages] is with the knowledge that we provide for you outstanding/better labor.” (see Bava Metzia 83a).
  במתיקה – for their bread
  הכל כמנהג המדינה – everything which includes the places where workers customarily eat and drink in the morning in the house of the owner before they go out to work. For if the owner had said to them – go early to your work in the field and I will bring to you your food there, they would say to him, “no,” but rather now let is eat in the house prior to our going out to the field, according to the custom of the province.
  מעשה ברבי יוחנן בן מתיא – In the Gemara (Bava Metzia 86a-b): The Mishnah is deficient and should be read as follows: If he stipulated to provide them food, he thereby increases his hood to them, that is to say, since it was not necessary to teach this since it was the custom of the province that they would eat, and it was taught explicitly to give them food, more food was mentioned. And there is the story of Rabbi Yohanan etc [as specified in the Mishnah proper].
  בשעתו – at the time of his kingdom, when he was a king and a commoner.
  שהם בני אברהם יצחק ויעקב – and the meal of Abraham was larger than that of Solomon, for Abraham had three cows for three people (the “people” were the angels, described in the story of Genesis, chapter 18, when Abraham rose up while recovering from his circumcision to welcome his “guests.”). And at the meal of Solomon, Judah and Israel were large like the sands that were on the sea shorte.
  עד שלא יתחילו במלאכה – there is nothing here other than words, for once they had begun, they cannot return.
  רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר וכו' – And the Halakha is according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel.
  
  Mishnah 2
  
  ואלו – workers.
  אוכלים מן התורה – in what they are engaged with.
  גמר מלאכה – when they detach it, as it is written (Deuteronomy 23:25): “[When you enter another man’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you want, until you are full,] but you must not put any in your vessel.” At the time when you put [them] into the vessels of the owner, you may eat, which is when you tear/detach them.
  ובתלוש מן הקרקע – and if you are engaging in things that are detached, you may eat of that thing as long as you have not completed the work required [to make them liable] for tithing, if it is something that is tithed, or as long as you have not completed the work required [to make them liable] for Hallah, if it is something that is given as Hallah, for as Scripture stated (Deuteronomy 25:4): “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing,” and since it is doesn’t say that you should not thresh while muzzling, we learn from it to make a juxtaposition between one who muzzles and that which is muzzled, and that which is muzzled to the one who muzzles. Just as the muzzled is an ox which eats that which is detached while it is engaged in work, so to the muzzle, who is a person, eats what is detached while engaged in work. And just as the one who muzzles, etc. And just as threshing is special, that which grows in the ground and its work has not been completed [to make it liable] for tithing and at the time when the work is completed , the worker can eat of it, so similarly all things that grow in the ground and whose work has not been completed [to make it liable] for tithing, and when it is at the time when the work is completed, the work eats of it, excluding the milking of animals and the presses thick milk in a bag to let the fluid run out (see Rashi to Shabbat 95a) and who makes cheese, which are not things that grow in the ground, and it excludes [also] one who separates the fruit of the date-palm and the dried figs that are attached together when their labor is completed [to become liable] for tithing , and excluding weeding garlic and onions , where he removes the small ones which have not grown from among the others to widen the space for the larger ones, for this is not the time of the end of the work. For all of these and ones similar to them, the worker does not eat them.
  
  Mishnah 3
  
  עד שיעשה בידיו ורגליו – Just as the ox with his hands and with its feet, so also the worker with his hands and with his feet, just as there is a juxtaposition between the one who muzzles and the muzzled [animal]. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yosi B’Rabbi Yehuda.
  
  Mishnah 4
  
  מפני השב אבדה לבעלים – so that he will not be idle from his labor.
  אמרו פועלים אוכלים בהליכתן מאומן לאומן – when they have finished this row and walk to begin its neighbor, and even though at that hour, it is not the time of work, it is pleasing to the owner with this.
  וחמור כשהיא פורקת – while it is walking, it eats from the burden that is on its back until she unloads.
  
  Mishnah 5
  
  אפילו בדינר – even if it is worth the equivalent of a denar.
  לא יאכל פועל יותר על שכרו – as Scripture states, “until you are full,” while he is hired, for it is upon him as he obligates himself to ascend the ramp or to hang in the tree.
  מלמדין – we say to him via advice that is appropriate, but the first Tanna disputes the Sages and states that we don’t teach him, and Halakha is according to the Sages.
  ויהא סותם את הפתח – and they will be prevented from hiring him.
  
  Mishnah 6
  
  קוצץ – he will take money and not eat.
  על ידי עצמו – for himself
  מפני שיש בהן דעת – and they know and they pardon/forgive.
  
  Mishnah 7
  
  נטע רבעי – fourth-year fruit of the tree, which are not eaten other than in Jerusalem or one redeems them and brings their monetary value (plus twenty percent) to Jerusalem.
  נתפרסו עיגוליו – cakes of figs that became separated and works were hired to combine them, or jugs that opened up and workers were hired to seal them closed.
  הרי לאו לא יאכלו – because their work had been completed and they were ready for tithing as they had become eatables forbidden pending the separation of sacred gifts.
  
  Mishnah 8
  
  שומרי פירות – those who guard vats and piles and detached produce, but those who guard gardens and orchards, we do not consume, neither from the laws of the province, nor from the Torah, for a bailee is not like someone doing anything.
  מהלכות מדינה – that already was practiced as such.
  נשבע על הכל – on all of the events that are written with the other bailees for liability, he takes an oath that such has happened to him and he is exempt.
  משלם את הכל – theft, and loss and unavoidable accidents.
  נושא שכר וכו' – and all of these are derived from Biblical verses in the portion of “V’Eleh Mishpatim”/”And these are the ordinances”. The first portion (Exodus 22:6) “When a man gives [money or goods] to another” is stated regarding the unpaid bailee. The second (Exodus 22:9): “When a man gives to another an ass, an ox, a sheep…” is stated [with regard] to a paid bailee, for he is liable for theft and loss, as it is written (concerning it) (Exodus 22:11): “But if [the animal] was stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner.” I don’t have anything other than “theft,” from where to I learn “loss?” The inference teaches (Exodus 22:11): “But if [the animal] was stolen…” in any case. And further, an inference from the weaker to the stronger (i.e., a fortiori), Just as theft is close to an unavoidable accident, one is liable, loss, which is close to negligence, is it not obvious? And the renter, since not all the benefit is his, the law is like the paid bailee. And the borrower is explained in the third section (Exodus 22:13): “When a man borrows [an animal] from another and it dies or is injured, its owner not being with it, he must make restitution.”
  
  Mishnah 9
  
  זאב אחד אינו אונס – and a paid bailee and a renter are liable for it, as it is written (Exodus 22:12): “…he need not replace what has been torn by beasts.” There is something torn by beasts that he does pay, and there is something torn by beasts that he does not pay.
  כשעת משלחת זאבים – when an evil beast is sent away, it jumps upon another person. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda and is not known in the Babylonian Talmud.
  הלסטים – one robber – this is an unavoidable accident.
  
  Mishnah 10
  
  סגפה – caused her privation with hunger or placed her in the heat in the summer or in the cold during the winter.
  עלתה לראשי צוקין – she overpowered him and went up to the top of high mountains.
  מתנה שומר חנם להיות פטור משבועה – that is not making a stipulation contrary to what is written in the Torah, but when he says to him: “It is impossible for me to be your bailee other than with this. And the bailee does not go down to his guarding until he pulls the animal. And this when he pulls the animal he has already explained on the condition that he has no oath upon him, nor has mortgaged himself to go down in the law of the bailee, other than in part. And for what he went down, he went down.
  
  Mishnah 11
  
  כל המתנה על מה שכתוב בתורה תנאו בטל – The entire Mishnah is [according to] Rabbi Meir, who holds that a person who makes a stipulation against what is written in the Torah, even in a manner of money, his condition is null/void, and is not the Halakha. But in a manner of money, even after he stipulated against what was written in the Torah, his condition is valid.
  כל תנאי שיש בו מעשה מתחלה – that he advanced the act that he has do to the stipulation that he requests from him, such as “behold this act is yours if you will do a certain thing, and it is not similar to the condition stipulation of the children of Gad and the children of Reuven (Numbers 32:29): “if [every shock-fighter among the Gadites and the Reubenites] crosses…you shall give them [the land of Gilead as a holding],” which is a stipulation prior to an action.
  תנאו בטל – the action is valid and even though the person who made the stipulation did not fulfill the stipulation.
  וכל שאפשר לו לקיימו בסופו – and the stipulation was prior to the action.
  תנאו קיים – but it is impossible for him to fulfill it, the stipulation is null/void and the action is fulfilled, for it is not other than an evasive reply, for it is not in his heart to make a stipulation other than to merely annoy him, distancing and putting off his fellow with words.
  
  
  
  
  
  Mishnah 1
  
  השואל את הפרה ושאל בעלה עמה – if the owners of the cow were with the borrower to do his work, whether they were borrowed with him or rented, whether at the same work of the cow, or whether to do a different [kind of] work, and if the animal died, he is exempt.
  שנאמר אם בעליו עמו לא ישלם – and this implies if the owner of the ox was with it, with the borrower, and is borrowed or rented to him to do work at the time that he borrowed his cow, he doesn’t pay.
  אבל שאל את הפרה כו' – if it was with him at the time of an unavoidable accident, but was not with him at the time of the borrowing, he (i.e., the borrower) is liable, for it was not borrowing with the owners to make him exempt other than if he was with him at the time of the borrowing.
  שנאמר בעליו אין עמו שלם ישלם – And this is what Scripture teaches us: If the owner is not with it (i.e., the animal) at the time of the borrowing, even if he was with him (i.e., the animal) at the time of breaking a bone or death, he (i.e., the borrower) must surely pay.
  
  Mishnah 2
  
  המשאיל אומר שאולה מתה – and you are liable for its unavoidable accidents.
  איני יודע – lest it died while rented out, and am exempt from the unavoidable accidents.
  חייב – It is not possible to establish our Mishnah as it implies, for we hold that my Maneh is in your hands, and the other says, that he doesn’t know [how the animal died] and he takes an equitable oath (see Shevuot 40b – which is applied, if one who is sued for a debt, denies the latter entirely, in contradistinction to the legal oath which is required when the defendant admits a part of the claim. It being presumed that nobody will go to law unless he has a claim, it is a matter of equity to put the opponent to an oath, to which he may in return put the claimant) that he does not know [how the animal died – if it had been borrowed or tented] and is exempt from payment/penalty. For this reason, we establish in the Gemara (Bava Metzia 98a) that where there is the business of an oath that is Torah mandated between them, such as where [the lender] says to him: I transferred to you two cows, one day as borrowed and the other day as a rental, and both of them (i.e., the cows) died while they were borrowed. And the borrower said to him (i.e., the lender), one of them, yes, at the time while it was borrowed it died. But one of them (i.e., the cows), I don’t know. And this like someone who partially admits to the claim and he is liable for an oath. And because he cannot take an oath, he pays. And it is similar to [the case of] my Maneh is in your hands, and the other responds, How is this? Fifty (i.e., one-half) I know about and fifty (i.e., the other half) I don’t know [anything] about. He is required to take an oath but he is not able to take an oath, and because he is unable to take an oath, he must pay.
  ישבע השוכר ששכורה מתה – this also is impossible to establish as it implies. And we hold that if one claimed “wheat” and the other admitted to him “barley,” he is exempt even from the cost of the barley. And that is so – that what he admitted to him was not what the other claimed, and what he claimed he (i.e., the other) did not admit to him. And what place is there for an oath? For this we have established in the Gemara (Bava Metzia 98b – a “rolling oath.” The lender can plea: “Even on your own plea, you must still swear that the animal died naturally, not through your negligence” – which rejects the ruling of Rami bar Hama’s ruling that no oath is imposed at all upon bailees, even when they plead loss, theft, death, etc., unless there is also a partial rejection of the claim. The bailee is bound to swear another oath – that the hired one and not the borrowed one has died is administered. The superimposed oath is Biblical, not Rabbinic. See also Sotah 18a). In that he (i.e., the lender/person who rents out the animal) says to the borrower/renter: Swear to me the oath of the bailees that you are required to swear, that she (i.e., the animal) died naturally, for the deponent’s statement is accepted as true on the ground that, if he had intended to tell a lie, he might have invented one more advantageous to his cause – that he could have taken an other that it died naturally for if he made a claim also that via a rolling oath, that she died while rented out.
  יחלוקו – Our Mishnah is [according to] Sumachus, who stated that monies that are placed in doubt should be divided, and it is not the Halakha, for the Halakha is: “He who wants to exact [compensation] from his fellow bears the burden of proof” (see Mishnah Bava Kamma, Chapter 3, Mishnah 11), and the the one appealed to must take an oath that he doesn’t know and is exempt.
  
  Mishnah 3
  
  ביד בנו – The lender sent it to the borrower by the hand of his son or his servant or the agent of the lender.
  או ביד בנו ועבדו ושלוחו של שואל – he (i.e. the borrower) is exempt if it (i.e. the animal) died on the road [to him/her]. But that agent of the borrower, one can establish it (see Bava Kamma 104a – also Shevuot 46b) – regarding his hired laborer or his client who lives in his home (may they take the oath)? But he did not make this person an agent before witnesses, for if witnesses had made the person the agent, the borrower would be obligated for his (i.e., the agent’s) unavoidable accident when the lender transferred it (i.e., the animal) to him. But there are those who say that even if he (i.e., the borrower) made the person his agent before witnesses, he is not liable through his hand for unavoidable accidents. And this is what he says to him – that a person is [deemed] believable if he wishes to send it in his hands, he sends it.
  אמר לו השואל שלחה לי וכו' – in the hand of your servant, he (i.e., the borrower) is liable. This “your servant’ is speaking about a Hebrew slave, for it were a Canaanite slave, the hand of the slave is like the hand of the master, and it would be like he didn’t depart from the domain of the lender, and it would be like the lender himself walked to him, and the borrower would be exempt, if he suffered an unavoidable accident on the way.
  וכן בשעה שמחזירה – If the borrower sent it in the hand of his son, or his servant or his gent, or in the hand of the son, slave or agent of the lender, it did not leave the domain of the the borrower juntil it comes to the hand of the lender, and if he suffers an unavoidable accident on the way, he is liable. If the lender said to him (i.e., the borrower): “Send it to me,” or the borrower said, “Behold I am sending it, et.” And the lender said to him, “Send it,” and he sent it (i.e., the animal) and it suffered an unavoidable accident on the way, he is exempt [from having to make any payments). And our Mishnah specifically when he returns it amidst the days of his borrowing it (i.e., the animal) when he is liable for unavoidable accidents. But if he returned it after the days of his borrowing, the law of a paid bailee applies [since he derived benefit from it] and not the law of a borrower, and if he sent it by the hand of his son, or his servant ,or his agent, whether it was his or it belonged to the lender, and it suffered an unavoidable accident, he is exempt [from payment].
  
  Mishnah 4
  
  המוכר שפחתו וילדה – since a Canaanite slave is acquired by money, and when he gave the money, he acquired the female [Canaanite] slave in every place that she is. And if it is not known if until she gave birth he gave the money, and the fetus us his, or after she gave birth, and the child belongs to the owners. But a cow is not acquired by money, but by pulling/drawing the object to be acquired towards oneself, and since he pulled it, it would be known if she gave birth already or not given birth, and for this [reason], it was necessary for the Mishnah to teach, “he who exchanges,” for via “Halifin”/a form of possession by handing to the purchaser an object as a symbolical substitute, since when one draws the object to be acquired towards oneself, the other person acquires in whatever place he is in, therefore it is not known whether the animal gave birth or not.
  יחלוקו – And our Mishnah is according to Sumachos, but the Halakha is not according to him.
  זה אומר גדול וזה אומר קטן – The one says the monetary value of a large slave and the other one says the monetary value of a small slave. For it were an actual slave, we hold that we don’t take oaths on slaves. And furthermore, what he claimed against him, he did not admit to him and what he (i.e. the other) admitted to, he (i.e., the first) did not claim, and there was no place for an oath.
  
  Mishnah 5
  
  המוכר זיתיו לעצים – to cut them down to burn them and he detained them in the ground.
  ועשו – bad olives for a Seah of them did not produce one-quarter of a log of oil.
  הרי אלו של בעל הזיתים – for less than one-fourth [of a log] people aren’t strict/particular about it. Ands the one-quarter that they mentioned, outside of the removal which he takes out at their olive harvest and at their pressing. And our Mishnah [deals with] when he sells his olives to merely cut them down. But if he said to him to cut them down immediately, even less than one-quarter [of a Log of oil per Seah] to the owner of the field. But if he said to cut them when he would desire, even more than one-quarter [of a Log of oil] would go to the owner of the olives.
  וזה אומר ארצי גידלה יחלוקו – In the Gemara (Bava Metzia 101a), it establishes it as in the case where a river swept away the olives with their clods [of earth], that is, with the ground that is surrounding them that they are able to live through it, and because of that, they are exempt from Orlah (i.e. the prohibition of eating the fruit of trees of the first three years), and all the first three years is when they would divide it between them, for even though the land of this one grew them, nevertheless, if not for their clods [of earth], one would not be able to eat from them because of [the laws of] Orlah. But after the first three years, everything [belongs] to the owner of the ground, for he said to him: If had planted it, after three [years], I would not have been able to eat of them.
  
  Mishnah 6
  
  המשכיר בית לחבירו – undefined.
  בימות הגשמים אינו יכול להוציאו מן החג ועד הפסח ובימות החמה שלשים יום – that is to say, if he comes to remove/evict him prior to Passover, that he must inform him thirty days from the days of the summer/heat, that is from the fifteenth of Elul for from there is thirty days until Sukkot/”the holiday” which is the beginning of the days of rainfall, and if he did not inform him from the fifteenth of Elul, he cannot evict him until Passover, and automatically we learn that he who rents a house, undefined, in the days of the summer/heat, he must inform him thirty days before he removes/evicts him (Bava Metzia 101b).
  ובכרכים – For everyone is drawn there to live and homes are not found to rent, he must inform him twelve months prior to evicting/removing him, whether during the days of summer/heat, whether during the rainy season, and just as he who rents out a home must inform him, so the renter must inform him (i.e., the owner) – in the villages thirty days and in the walled cities twelve months. And if he does not inform him, he cannot leave, but rather gives him his rent.
  של נחתומים ושל צבעים שלש שנים – because of the great credit for a long time. And the Halakha is according to Rabban Gamaliel.
  
  Mishnah 7
  
  ובנגר – When they lock the door and insert it into the beam of the lintel.
  הזבל של בעל הבית – like when the dung is made from bulls that came on their own, for if they were the bulls of the renter, the dung belongs to the renter.
  היוצא מן התנור – ashes and they became dung.
  
  Mishnah 8
  
  נתעברה לשוכר – he would not increase the monthly payment, for the intercalation is included in the year.
  מעשה בציפורי – In the Gemara (Bava Metzia 102b), it raises an objection. You quote a story which disproves your rule! For the first part of the Mishnah teaches either it all goes to the renter or all goes to the person who rents it out, and it brings a story/case where they should divide it, and it responds that the Mishnah is deficient and it should be read as follows: If he said to him: “I rent it to you] for twelve golden denarii per year, at a golden dinar per month, they must divide/share it between them. And we don’t know if he seized the first language or the latter language, and the story also, etc. But the Halakha is not according the Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel or like Rabbi Yosi, but one goes after the least of these languages, that the land is in the possession of its owner stands. Therefore, all of it is [belongs] to the person renting out, whether the first language was less whether the latter language was less.
  
  Mishnah 9
  
  חייב להעמיד לו בית – [for the days of his rental].
  היה גדול לא יעשנו קטן וכו' – and he that showed him a house and said to him (i.e. the prospective renter): “a house like this one I will rent out to you,” but when he provides the house and says to him: “this house I am renting out to you,” and it falls, he is not liable to build it. But if he said to him an undefined/unspecified, he must provide him a place that is called a house, whether it is large or small.
  
  
  
  
  
  Mishnah 1
  
  המקבל שדה – as a tenancy (who tills the owner’s ground for a certain share in the produce) for one half, a third or a quarter [of the produce] or a tenant who pays the landlord a fixed annual rent in kind, irrespective of the yield of the crops – for so many Kors per year.
  לחרוש אחריו – after harvesting or the uprooting, in order to to turn over the roots of bad grasses that are there so that they will die.
  ובקנים – that support the vines.
  ובשניהם מספקים את הקנים – What is the reason that he stated it? What is the reason that they divide the canes? Because both (i.e. the owner and the renter) provide the new canes throughout the year.
  
  Mishnah 2
  
  בית השלחין – dry ground that lacks sufficient rain water for it (and hence, requires irrigation).
  או בית האילן – and for the tree which is beloved to the tenant, who takes part of its fruits without toil.
  יבש המעין – in it, that from in we water it.
  מן חכורו – If he received it (i.e., the field) as a tenancy whereby he pays such-and-such Kors per year, for from the outset, he did not reveal his intention that because of a spring or a tree, he has increased/profited in his tenancy.
  חכור לי בית השלחין זו – he revealed his intention that because it is a ground that requires irrigation, he has profited/gained from it and took in rent on a fixed annual rental payable in kind (as opposed to a percentage to the owner).
  
  Mishnah 3
  
  המקבל שדה – for a half, a third or a quarter [of the produce].
  והובירה – that he did not plough it or sow it.
  אם אוביר – I will make it fallow ground.
  ולא אעביד – and I will not perform any appropriate work on it.
  אשלם במיטבא – according to what it would be appropriate to make had it been ploughed and sown as is worthy.
  
  Mishnah 4
  
  ולא רצה לנכש – to cleanse the field from bad grasses that weakens the strength of the field and prevents the grain from coming up.
  מה איכפת לך – if my portion is lacking for the grasses reduces/lessens the ears of corn , I will give you my tenancy payment of such-and-such kors as I agreed with you.
  
  Mishnah 5
  
  המקבל שדה מחבירו – for one-half, one third or one-fourth like a tenant.
  ולא עשתה – grain other than a little bit. And the tenant farmer came to him to prevent from engaging with it (i.e., the field) more, for there isn’t there worth his toil.
  אם יש בה כרי – to make of its grain a pile, that there is enough to cover the winnowing shovel that one winnows/scatters with it the grain, and if it is close to two Seah, one is obligated to engage with it against his will
  מה קצבה בכרי – this limit is not appropriate that would be a large field with the measurement of a pile and a small field with the measurement of a pile, and the care of a large field is not similar to the care of a small field.
  אלא אם יש בו כדי נפילה – that is to say, according to the measurement of what he sows in it, he is liable to engage with it. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
  
  Mishnah 6
  
  המקבל שדה – in tenancy for a fixed amount – such-and-such korim.
  מכת מדינה – that a grasshopper ate or that most of the fields of that province or of that valley were emptied of grain.
  אינו מנכה – as he said to him: “your luck caused this.”
  בין כך ובין כך – even if it is a disaster affecting the entire province, he does not deduct, for on the money, one does not make a decree.
  
  Mishnah 7
  
  ולקתה – that the wheat was emptied of grain.
  נותן לו – ten kors that he arranged with him from these wheat that were emptied of grain, and he is not able however to say to him,” I require good-quality wheat from you.”
  
  Mishnah 8
  
  המקבל שדה מחבירו לזרעה שעורים – in a tenancy – such-and-such barley or wheat or money.
  לא יזרענה חטים – as the wheat weakens/deteriorates the land [more] than the barley.
  רשב"ג אוסר – that it is hard for the land when they sow it one year with one species and another year with a different species. But concerning the legal decision, everything is according to the land/property and according to the place. If he made a condition with him in a matter that weakens the land a bit, he is not able to change and to plant something that weakens it a lot, but the opposite is permissible.
  
  Mishnah 9
  
  לשנים מועטות – less than seven years.
  לא יזרענה פשתן – for flax weakens the land a great deal and its roots remain in the land until seven years.
  ואין לו בקורת שקמה – it is the wood of a fig-tree of the forest. And we cut its branches for beans of the building and they continue to grow, but for less than seven years, one does not make beams. Therefore, acceptance [of a lease] for less than seven years, he cannot cut down beams on it, for it is not the intention that beams come down, for in a few years, they do not restore the beams. But if he accepted [a lease] for seven years, the first year, he can sow flax and cut down the sycamore that is in it.
  
  Mishnah 10
  
  
  
  Mishnah 11
  
  שכיר יום גובה כל הלילה – that is after it, as it states (Leviticus 19:13): “The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning,” and it is impossible to state that we are speaking of a night hire, for firing is not completed other than at its end, as it is written (Leviticus 25:53): “He shall be under his authority as a laborer hired by the year,” and we expound from it (Bava Metzia 65a): the hiring of one year is completed at the beginning of the next year. We therefore see that he does not become a day hire until the settling of the sun. And when it is written (Deuteronomy 24:15): “[You must pay him his wages on the same day,] before the sun sets, [for he is needy and urgently depends upon it….],” it is established as speaking about a night hire, for when he is used as when he is hired to him in the morning when his hire is completed. And similarly [the Biblical verse]: “The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning,” also is not established as speaking of a night laborer, for he does not labor for him until the morning.
  שכיר שעות גובה כל היום וכל הלילה – This is how it should be read: A hire for several hours during the day collects [his earnings] all the day; a hire for several hours during the night collects [his earnings] all night.
  שכיר שבוע – Shemitah/of the Sabbatical year.
  יצא ביום – that his hire concluded/finished in the morning or during the day, he collects [his earnings] all day long, and since the sun had set, he violates it [the commandment of “the wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning”].
  יצא בלילה – his hire finished during the night.
  גובה כל הלילה וכל היום – and since his labor extended from when it became dark, he is a night hire, and he does not violate it (i.e., the verse from the Torah in Leviticus 19:13: “the wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning”) in the morning until the morrow at sunset.
  
  Mishnah 12
  
  אחד שכר בהמה ואחד שכר כלים – as it is written (Leviticus 19:13): “The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you,” – all that his work is “with you,” even and even animals and utensils.
  לא תבעו אינו עובר עליו – as it is written (Leviticus 19:13): “with you”, with your knowledge or without your knowledge.
  המחהו – cut him from himself and placed him with the storekeeper and said to him: “Give this worker with a denar produce and I will pay,” or he said to the money changer, “give him for a denar money [as change].
  אינו עובר עליו – as it is written (Leviticus 19:13): “with you,” and he didn’t give him an order to the storekeeper.
  שכיר בזמנו נשבע ונוטל – because the owner of the house/boss is busily engaged with his workers and sometimes it is thought that he gave it, but [in reality], he did not give it (i.e., the salary), he is made to take an oath from the owner of the house/boss and casts it (i.e., the salary) to the hired person.
  שלא בזמנו – even though the owner of the house/boss is busily engaged with his workers, when the time comes for his obligation, they impose upon him and he remembers, and the owner/boss is not suspect of violating “[the wages of a laborer] shall not remain [with you].”
  גר תושב – who accepted upon himself not to serve idolatry or to eat carrion. He does not have [applying to him] because of “shall not remain”, as it is written at the beginning of the Biblical verse (Leviticus 19:13): “[You shall not defraud] your fellow,” “your fellow,” and not a resident alien.
  
  Mishnah 13
  
  המלוה את חבירו – and the time arrived and he didn’t pay him back.
  לא ימשכננו – to take from him a pledge/security against his will and even in the marketplace, but rather via an agent of the Jewish court, who should take it from him with the permission of the Jewish court.
  ולא יכנס לביתו – even the agent of the Jewish court should not enter into his house, and all the more so, the creditor himself.
  היה לו שני כלים – and his liability corresponds to both of them and he gave both as a pledge.
  נוטל אחד ומחזיר אחד – at the time that he (i.e., the borrower) needs it, he should restore it to him and detain the second with him (i.e., the creditor), as it is explained further on. He should return the pillow at night and the plow during the day.
  מת – the borrower. One does not restore the pledge/security to the heirs [of the borrower], for there is no commandment of restoring the pledge, for it is written (Deuteronomy 24:13): “You must restore the pledge to him…” – to him but not to his heirs.
  עד שלשים יום – the time of the court case. But the Halakha is not according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel.
  בין שהיא עניה בין שהיא עשירה וכו' – because there is according to the one (Rabbi Shimon – Bava Metzia 115a) who said that she is poor and we don’t take a pledge from her, because you must return it (i.e., the pledge/security) to her and she comes and goes to you, you bring her into disrepute with her neighbors, but a rich woman, about whom you don’t have to say this, I would say that you can take a pledge [from her], but this comes to inform us that this Tanna/teacher of the Mishnah does not, as it is written (Deuteronomy 24:17): “You shall not take a widow’s garment in pawn,” both a poor [widow] and a rich [widow] are implied.
  משום שני כלים – the higher one is the upper millstone and the lower is a hand mill.
  
  
  
  
  
  Mishnah 1
  
  הבית והעליה של שנים – the house belongs to one of them and the upper story belongs to the other.
  שניהם חולקים – because it is not known that these stones are of the upper story and those are from the lower part.
  ורואים אלו אבנים הראויות להשתבר – if the house was crushed from its foundations and fell below it, one can know that the lower stones were broken. But if the upper part of the wall fell there from it a lot, the upper [stones] broke, since they fell from a high place, and the lower ones [remained] whole, since they fell from a low place. And [from] the first part [of the Mishnah] where it is taught that both of them divide it, is speaking about when the wall fell at night and they removed/cleared away the stones immediately, and it is impossible to establish if it fell through pressure and the bottom ones broke, or through seizing an object violently to take possession [caused them] to fall and the upper ones were broken (Bava Metzia 116a).
  מקצת אבניו – and they are whole.
  נוטלן – such as the case that this one claims that with some of them (i.e. the stones), it is truth, and with some, he states that he doesn’t known, for since he admits to part [of it], he is liable for an oath according to the Torah, and he is unable to take an oath, and whomever is liable for an oath and is not able to take an oath must pay. But if he said concerning all of them that he did not know, he should take an oath that he did not know and divide them (i.e., the stones) equally with his fellow.
  
  Mishnah 2
  
  הבית והעליה – He who leases out the upper story that is on top of his house to his fellow and says to him: “the upper story that is on top of this house, I lease to you, and the upper story opened up [a hole] of four handbreadths by four handbreadths (according to Shmuel – Bava Metzia 116b) for now, if this one (i.e., the one who has been leased the upper story) needs to use the upper story, he must use half of it above and half of it below.
  ואין בעל הבית רוצה לתקן – the upper story.
  הרי בעל העליה יורד ודר למטה – completely [lives downstairs] , for he had prepared the house for the upper story. And we do not force him to live half above and half below.
  מעזיבה – plaster of mud/clay that they place on the ceiling. Rabbi Yose holds (Bava Metzia 117a) that the concrete of stone chippings and clay serves to level the depressions, and it levels the depressions of the upper story floor. But the Rabbis hold that the concrete of stone chippings strengths the ceiling, and the strengthening of the ceiling is required to be done by the lower dweller. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.
  
  Mishnah 3
  
  הבית והעליה של שנים – the house belongs to this one and the upper story to the other.
  אמר בעל עליה לבעל הבית לבנות – the wall and the lower ceiling that are upon him to built
  בונה בית – and the lower ceiling that is upon it, and dwells in the house until he (i.e., the person who lives in the lower area of the house) compensates him for his expenditures, and afterwards, he leaves and builds his upper story.
  אמר רבי יהודה אף זה דר בתוך של חבירו – if this is the case, the owner of this upper story in this case compensates him for what he has spent, it is found that he is living all these days in [the section] of his fellow, and even though he is not without that, he would not have built it; nevertheless this one is benefitting, for were it not for this house, he would not have had a place to live there. And he holds that this one benefits and this one is not lacking, he is liable. But he builds it all.
  ומקרה את העליה – above him and all that is necessary for it.
  ויושב בבית – [in] the lower [house], for he would have that this one doesn’t benefit, for the upper story was ready for him to live in it and the other person is not lacking anything, for had he not built it, it would not be appropriate for him.
  
  Mishnah 4
  
  בית הבד – a house to gather olives.
  וגנה אחת על גביו – and the olive press belongs to one [of them] and the garden is of the other.
  ונפחת – (see Bava Metzia 118a) four handbreadths by four handbreadths and it is not worthy to sow as at first.
  כיפין – a ceiling made in a circle like a rainbow and upon it, the owner of the garden places dust/mud and plants.
  פטור מלשלם – for what was he to do, as it was an unavoidable accident.
  נתנו לו זמן – A Jewish court; thirty days to tear it down and cut it {i.e., the tree) down.
  
  Mishnah 5
  
  ונפל – into midst of the garden of his fellow.
  הגיעוך – take possession of them and clear them for yourself.
  אין שומעין לו – if this one doesn’t want, he doesn’t purchase them and this one is liable to clear them.
  בתבן ובקש – to gather them of his own, or from something ownerless.
  אין שומעין לו – even though that it in every place we have what is equivalent to money is like money, concerning a hired worker, it is not like this, for it is written (Leviticus 19:13): “The wages of a laborer shall not remain,” on what that he makes a condition explicitly is implied.
  המוציא מוציא והמזבל מזבל – when this one brings it (i.e., the manure) from the cattle-shed to the public domain, the carrier brings it to manure, and he is not permitted to detain it there.
  גובלין טיט – to put it immediately into the building.
  והבונה בונה – he receives them from the person who brings them and builds.
  מתקן – they are ready at hand in the public domain all thirty days, and he is not liable for damages. But the Halakha is not according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel.
  
  Mishnah 6
  
  שתי גינות – of two people who are near one another. The one – his ground/plot is higher and the one near him, his ground/plot is lower.
  והירק בינתים – in the rising of the elevation, that this one is higher than that one.
  של עליון – for it is his dust and it is from his that it absorbs.
  של תחתון – that upon his empty space it is placed.
  מאחר ששניהם יכולין למחות – so that there will not be these vegetables here, the upper one takes the dust, and the lower one to fill up his garden.
  רואין מהיכן ירק זה חי – from the place that it absorbs and grows, to this one, it should be given.
  כל שעליון יכול לפשוט ידו וליטול הרי אלו שלו – as Rabbi Meir stated, since it is from his dust that it lives.
  והשאר של תחתון – for the upper [garden] itself has renounced ownership of it, regarding the bottom, for it is a disgrace for him to take permission to enter into [the garden] of his fellow and to take it. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Shimon.