On the penultimate page of Bava Batra, we encounter the final mishnah of the tractate, from which we learn that if a creditor comes to collect a debt from a guarantor who did not guarantee the loan until after the loan agreement was signed, the creditor can only collect from properties that do not carry a lien.
The mishnah closes with an incident in which Rabbi Yismael ruled according to this teaching, but Rabbi Shimon ben Nannas tells him that he was in error. According to Ben Nannas, if a guarantor enters the picture after a loan agreement is signed, their guarantee is no guarantee at all and the creditor cannot collect from them. Rabbi Yishmael asks how this can be, so Ben Nannas offer the following hypothetical:
If one was strangling someone in the marketplace, demanding repayment of a loan, and another person found him and said to the attacker: “Leave him alone and I will give you the money he owes,” — the person who intervened is exempt from paying, as the creditor did not loan the money in the first place based on his trust of the one who intervened.
If a bystander steps in with an offer to guarantee a loan in order to protect a debtor from imminent physical harm, as in the unlikely but persuasive example above, or even if they did so only to provide financial protection, Ben Nannas argues, they are not liable to pay. For the guarantee to be enforceable, says Ben Nannas, it must be a part of the original agreement.
Impressed by this explanation, Rabbi Yishmael exclaims:
One who wants to become wise should engage in the study of monetary law, as there is no greater discipline in the Torah, and it is like a flowing spring.
And one who wants to engage in the study of monetary law should attend to Shimon ben Nannas.
With these statements, Rabbi Yishmael brings the final mishnah of Bava Batra to a close, and brings us to the end of Tractate Nezikin — the original super tractate that was later divided into Bava Kamma, Bava Metzia and Bava Batra due to its length. Although the study of monetary law can be challenging, it sharpens the mind and sustains the student.
As we prepare to turn to the final page of Bava Batra, let’s take a moment, as Rabbi Yishamel did, to reflect upon the knowledge and wisdom that we gained and express appreciation for the commentators, teachers and study partners who guided us through some of the Talmud’s most taxing material. May it continue to nurture us as an ever flowing spring.
Read all of Bava Batra 175 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on December 17, 2024. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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