Talking Talmud

Rav Huna and Rav Yosef disagree over different types of chazakah of usage. Abaye teaches how to built houses next to a public domain and still maintain privacy.

The case of an inner all and an outer wall - can one party induce the other the participate in payment for fencing just by virtue of putting them up - a court case between Ravina and Ronya. Also, a new mishnah! On the obligation when a courtyard wall collapses and neighbors all need to pay in to construct a new wall, of at least 4 amot high. Always, the one who claims he has contributed needs to p...

How Herod became king, how Bava ben Buta advised him, and how even Herod's evil had an after-the-fact silver lining of Herod's beautiful Temple. Plus, what it means to not give in to evil. In the context of the sanctity of the physical place of a synagogue. Also, a new mishnah! When one neighbor puts up a partition without the neighbor's agreement - is the second party obligated to participate in...

The daf explains the terms gvil and gazit and what they mean halakhically. What’s an amah traksin and did it exist in the second Temple. Rav Chisda explains when one can tear down an old beit knesset to build a new one.

A new Masechet! What happens if two people jointly own a courtyard and one if them wants a wall built? A lengthy discussion on the daf if sight can cause damage.

A last mishnah! On divided properties, including gardens, when one is above the other - who owns the produce? Unusually, the mishnah explains the rationale of the disputants' different views here, and the garden's nourishment from above. Also: one who can reach out one's hand to take produce is allowed to take the produce, but what if he can only reach the roots or only the leaves? Plus, the Persi...

The daf opens with mishnah that discussed when a change in wages is allowed. A second mishnah lists different types of items that can damage a Reshut HaRabim and who is responsible for thise damages

More on the upstairs/downstairs neighbors, who share maintenance and the like. Including issues of when a tenant would move in with the landlord (or in place of him). What terms can be presumed to remain in place when issues crop up? Plus, a new mishnah about such a building collapsing and what happens when only the upper owner wants to rebuild. And Rabbi Yehudah's 3 examples of not taking advanta...

The daf finishes the ninth chapter of Bava Metzeia with a disagreement between Abaye and Rava about a slaughtering knife. The tenth chapter discusses properties where one is house is on top of the other and what are the halakhic implications of this type of arrangement.

The daf contains two mishnahs which contain halakhot about securities and when one may not take a security

Rabah bar Avuha meets Eliyahu and asks three questions. The daf returns to its discussion of collateral and almost seems to undermine the concept.

When and how can a lender collect a security? The daf also contains a very strange baraita about what a lender must leave a borrower.

If one uses a shopkeeper or a money changer to hold on to a worker's wages - can he be paid this way, or can he go back to the employer to be paid directly? Of course, it's a machloket. Also, swearing that you weren't paid to be able to collect your wages - in contrast to the usual denial of claim. Which works to the protection of the employee.

If wages are withheld is it oshek or gezel? Does the prohibition against withholding wages also apply to animals and keilim?

The daf looks at the case of an ambiguous document and how do is payment determined. A new mishnah begins a discussion on the timely payment of employees

Is renter allowed to cut the branches of trees on a field he is renting? If a farmer wants to go to Eretz Yisroel and leave his rental earlier should he be compensated for improvement he made to the field?

Why did Rabbah bar bar Chana curse Rabbah bar Rav Nachman? The daf cites the biblical source for bar meitzra and explains why it is important.

The daf mentions that it is an Ein HaRah to have someone stand near your field and look at your crops. The many benefits of eating bread in the morning are listed.

Natural calamities... and how years with no rain (and therefore no produce) were characterized as "Elijah's years." Plus, calculating produce per the years of Shemitah (and Yovel) - and how that connects to redeeming one's conscrated ancestral lands. Plus, mishnah! Cultivating wheat when the crop fails is a challenge to pay back....

A new mishnah - does weeding a field have impact on the transaction of the farmer (vs. landowner). Also, what does a measure of one's load have to do with prayer or tefillin? Plus, one more mishnah on the terms of natural disaster for a field.

A “meta” daf. Rav Pappa shares what types of farmers the mishnayot on the previous daf discuss. The daf describes situations where lashon hedyot - text that people may typically use - and when it is accepted in a variety of halachic scenarios.

The 8th perek finishes with a discussion about replacing a rented house that fell. The ninth perek discussed the laws of sharecroppers and tenant farmers.

Who takes the mezuzot in a rented property? The daf discusses the mitzvah of sending a mother bird away to collect her eggs in a rented property.

The daf discusses the ownership of a tree that is uprooted and lands on someone else’s property. How much notice must be given before evicting a tenant?

The laws of transactions between buyers and sellers, in parallel to borrowers and lenders. With the example of a pregnant cow that was traded for a donkey... What happens when the parties take opposite positions with differing levels of certainty? Also, the Gemara delves into slaves in the slave market, worth different values - and a buyer and seller who disagree over which slave had been purchase...