Bava Metzia (, "The Middle Gate") is the second of the first three

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ic tractates in the order of

Nezikin ''Nezikin'' ( ''Neziqin'', "Damages") or ''Seder Nezikin'' (, "The Order of Damages") is the fourth Order of the Mishna (also the Tosefta and Talmud). It deals largely with Jewish criminal and civil law and the Jewish court system. Nezikin co ...

("Damages"), the other two being Bava Kamma and

Bava Batra Bava Batra (also Baba Batra; ) is the third of the three Talmudic tractates in the Talmud in the order Nezikin; it deals with a person's responsibilities and rights as the owner of property. It is part of Judaism's oral law. Originally it, to ...

. Originally all three formed a single tractate called ''Nezikin'' (torts or injuries), each ''Bava'' being a Part or subdivision. Bava Metzia discusses civil matters such as

property law Property law is the area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land) and personal property. Property refers to legally protected claims to resources, such as land and personal property, including intellectual prope ...

and

usury Usury () is the practice of making loans that are seen as unfairly enriching the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is charged in e ...

. It also examines one's obligations to guard lost property that has been found, or property explicitly entrusted to him.

Mishnah

The Mishnah of Bava Metzia contains ten chapters.

Honorary trustee (''Shomer Hinam''), chapters 1-3

An honorary trustee is one who finds lost property. He has to keep it as '' shomer hinam'' (watching over another's property without receiving any remuneration) until he can restore it to the rightful owner (). The laws as to what constitutes finding, what to do with the things found, how to guard against false claimants, how to take care of the property found, under what conditions the finder of a thing is bound to take care of it, and under what conditions he is not so obligated—all this is explained in the first two chapters. A trustee who takes no payment is only responsible for such loss of the entrusted property as has been caused through the trustee's

negligence Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances. Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a neg ...

(''peshi'ah''). The mode of procedure in such cases, and the laws concerning eventual

fines Fines may refer to: *Fines, Andalusia, Spanish municipality *Fine (penalty) * Fine, a dated term for a Lease#Leases_of_land, premium on a lease of land, a large sum the tenant pays to commute (lessen) the rent throughout the term * Fines, ore or oth ...

, are discussed in 2:1; all other laws concerning the responsibilities and the rights of the ''shomer hinam'' are contained in 3:4–12.

Sale and Trust, chapters 4-5

Contains various laws concerning sale and exchange. The payment of money does not finalize the sale; and the buyer may legally cancel the sale and claim a refund until he has "drawn" the purchased item away from its place: this "drawing" (''meshikhah'') makes the sale final. Until such act is performed the seller is to some extent a ''shomer hinam'' of the money paid. Similarly, the buyer may become a ''shomer hinam'' of the thing bought, if, on finding that he has been cheated, he wants to cancel the sale, to return the thing bought, and to claim the money back. What constitutes cheating / fraud (''onaah'') is defined in the course of this chapter, stating that where the seller charges one-sixth () more than the going price, it is counted as

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

, or overcharging. Chapter 5 deals with laws concerning interest, which have nothing in common with the laws concerning ''shomer hinam'' beyond the fact that taking interest and cheating (''onaah'' of chapter 4) both consist of an illegal addition to what is actually due. The laws prohibiting the taking of interest are very severe, and extend to all business transactions that in any way resemble the taking of interest. The two terms for interest appearing in , ''neshekh'' (interest), and ''tarbit'' (increase), are explained and illustrated by examples (5:1–10). According to the Mishnah "the lender, who takes interest, the borrower who pays it, the witnesses, the security, and the clerk who writes the document, are all guilty of having broken the law concerning interest" (5:11). See

Loans and interest in Judaism The subject of loans and interest in Judaism has a long and complex history. In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Ezekiel classifies the charging of interest among the worst sins, denouncing it as an abomination and metaphorically portraying usury, usu ...

A paid trustee (''Shomer Sakhar''), chapters 6-7

A paid trustee is liable to pay for all losses except those caused by an accident (''ones''). He has to swear that such an accident happened, and is thereupon free from payment (7:8–10). The example given in the Mishnah of ''shomer sakhar'' is that of an

artisan An artisan (from , ) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, sculpture, clothing, food ite ...

who undertakes to produce certain work out of a given material. If the material is spoiled, or the work produced is not according to agreement, he has to pay. As the hirer (''sokher'') has the same liability as the ''shomer sakhar'', some laws relating to the ''sokher'' are included in chapter 6. From the paid trustee the Mishnah passes over (chapter 7) to the workman (''po'el'') in general, and regulates the working time, the food, and also the rights of the workman to partake of the fruit of the field or vineyard while working there ().

Borrower (''Shoel''), chapter 8:1-3

A borrower or hirer is liable to pay for every kind of loss, including loss through accident, except "if the lender is with him" (); that is, according to the traditional interpretation, if the lender was likewise at work with him, for payment or without payment.

Hirer (''Sokher''), chapters 8:6-9 and 9

The laws of a ''sokher'' of movable property having been given in chapter 6, Mishnah 8:6-9 and 9:1-10 discuss the ''sokher'' of immovable property; and the relations between the tenant of a house and his

landlord A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord appli ...

, and between the farmer of a field and its owner. Among the laws that regulate these relations are the following: If the tenant takes a house for a year, and the year happens to be a

leap year A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar year that contains an additional day (or, in the case of a lunisolar calendar, a month) compared to a common year. The 366th day (or 13th month) is added to keep t ...

, the tenant occupies the house thirteen months for the same price. The tenant cannot be evicted in the winter between ''

Sukkot Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelite ...

'' and

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

, unless notice be given one month before the beginning of the winter. In large towns and for shops, one year's notice is required. 9:11-12, taking up again the subject of hiring, regulate the various terms for paying the due wages (based on and ). The last section of chapter 9 defines the rights of the creditor in accordance with . The final chapter (10) regulates the relations between joint owners and neighbors, in dwellings and in fields. The last case mentioned is especially interesting as showing a highly developed state of agricultural jurisdiction in the Mishnaic days.

Tosefta and Gemara

The

Tosefta The Tosefta ( "supplement, addition") is a compilation of Jewish Oral Law from the late second century, the period of the Mishnah and the Jewish sages known as the '' Tannaim''. Background Jewish teachings of the Tannaitic period were cha ...

in Bava Metzia is divided into eleven chapters, which correspond to the ten chapters of the Mishnah in the following way: Chapters 1-2 correspond to chapters 1-2 of the Mishnah; chapter 3 to chapters 3-4 of the Mishnah; chapters 4-6 to chapter 5 of the Mishnah; chapter 7 — which begins "he who hires workmen" (''po'alin'') instead of "he who hires artisans" (''umanin'') — to Mishnah 6:1; and chapter 8 correspond to chapters 6-8 of the Mishnah; chapters 9-10 to chapter 9; chapter 11 to chapter 10 of the Mishnah. The

Gemara The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemore) is an essential component of the Talmud, comprising a collection of rabbinical analyses and commentaries on the Mishnah and presented in 63 books. The term is derived from the Aram ...

, in explaining the laws of the Mishnah, discusses a variety of similar problems, especially the Babylonian Gemara; the Jerusalem version being very meager in this respect.

Rabbi Zeira Rabbi Zeira (), known before his ''semikhah'' as Rav Zeira () and known in the Jerusalem Talmud as Rabbi Ze'era (), was a Jewish Talmudist of the third generation of ''Amoraim'' who lived in the Land of Israel. Biography He was born in Babyloni ...

, coming from

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

to Jerusalem, is said to have fasted a hundred times within a certain period of time, praying that he might forget the Babylonian Gemara, and fully grasp the teachings of

Rabbi Yochanan :''See Johanan (name) for more rabbis by this name''. Johanan bar Nappaha ( Yoḥanan bar Nafḥa or Napaḥa), also known simply as Rabbi Yochanan or Johanan bar Nafcha (180–279 CE), was a leading rabbi and second-generation '' Amora'' duri ...

, the Jerusalem master.Bava Metzia 85a According to

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

, the rabbis of Jerusalem were not of a contentious disposition, and settled difficulties without much discussion (compare p. 38b: "Are you from

Pumbedita Pumbedita ( ''Pūm Bəḏīṯāʾ'', "Mouth of the Bedita"See The river "Bedita" has not been identified.) was an ancient city located in modern-day Iraq. It is known for having hosted the Pumbedita Academy. History The city of Pumbedita was s ...

, where they make an elephant pass through the eye of a needle?").

References

External links

Mishnah Bava Metzia text in Hebrew Full Hebrew and English text of the Mishnah for tractate Bava Metzia
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Full Hebrew text of the Tosefta for tractate Bava Metzia
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