The mishnah on today’s daf continues exploring what is and isn’t automatically included in a sale. In this instance, we’re talking about work animals:
One who sold a wagon has not sold the mules. And if he sold the mules, he has not sold the wagon. One who sold a yoke has not sold the oxen, and one who sold the oxen has not sold the yoke.
Rabbi Yehuda says: The sum of money indicates what one has sold. How so? If the buyer said to the seller: Sell me your yoke for 200 dinars, since it is a known matter that a yoke is not sold for 200 dinars. And the rabbis say: The sum of money is not proof.
The first half of the mishnah is straightforward: Though mules are needed to make a wagon functional, and though oxen are needed to make a yoke functional, animals are not automatically included in the sale of these items, and vice versa. This is explained with no attribution.
The second half of the mishnah presents a dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and the rabbis. Rabbi Yehuda thinks that if a wagon was sold for significantly more than its usual price, it is indeed a reasonable assumption that the animals who habitually pull it were included in the sale. The rabbis, however, think the accompanying animals are never included unless specified. But the first half of this mishnah was clear, so why would they even be having this debate in the second half? The Gemara attempts to construct a circumstance in which this dispute makes sense:
If we say it’s referring to a place where they call a yoke tzimda and they call oxen bakar, it is obvious that he sold him a yoke and did not sell him the oxen. But if the mishnah is referring to a place where they also call oxen tzimda, then the seller sold him everything.
If yokes and oxen are referred to with different terms, it’s a safe assumption that the sale of one does not include the other, even if the price would suggest otherwise. If this is the case, it’s hard to understand the logic of Rabbi Yehuda’s stance that a high price of sale suggests oxen are included.
On the other hand, if people use the term tzimda to mean both a yoke and the oxen that work with it, when the sale price is too high for only one of those items, we’d assume both are included in the sale. In this instance, it’s hard to understand the rabbis’ argument that we’d assume only a yoke was sold.
One might think this doesn’t pose a fundamental issue, as each scenario only problematizes one of the two positions. However, the Gemara generally operates from the assumption that the rabbis have thought-out, defensible stances; one opinion might ultimately win out, but they both have to make sense. If a particular scenario renders one rabbi’s opinion incoherent, the Gemara assumes we must have gotten the details wrong.
So, the Gemara emends the scenario slightly and tries again:
No, their dispute is necessary in a place where they call a yoke tzimda and call oxen bakar, but there are also those who call oxen tzimda. Since it is unclear what is meant by the term tzimda, Rabbi Yehuda holds that the sum of money indicates whether he purchased a yoke or oxen, and the rabbis hold that the amount of money does not serve as proof.
Both Rabbi Yehuda and the rabbis agree that the sum of money isn’t in and of itself a sufficient factor to determine what’s included in a sale; the question is whether it’s significant enough to resolve a case of ambiguity. When people colloquially use the word tzimda to mean a yoke but sometimes use it for oxen, Rabbi Yehuda says that a fee more suited to both a yoke and oxen indicates that both were sold, whereas the rabbis still hold that only the yoke was included — even if the sale price was unexpectedly high. As Rashbam explains, they believe the extra money is either a gift or a mistake, not an intentional payment for additional property.
By finding the right scenario, the Gemara has rendered intelligible the dispute between the rabbis and Rabbi Yehuda, with each holding a defensible stance. This doesn’t tell us who is right, but it confirms the argument is worth having.
Read all of Bava Batra 77 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on September 10, 2024. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
Help us keep Jewish knowledge accessible to millions of people around the world.
Your donation to My Jewish Learning fuels endless journeys of Jewish discovery. With your help, My Jewish Learning can continue to provide nonstop opportunities for learning, connection and growth.
