Bava Kamma 103

1:
Today's mishnah is "short and sweet" and will not require an overly long explanation.

2:
Three possibilities are raised by our mishnah and in all three cases one person has in his possession – legally or illegally – property belonging to another person. The first possibility is one that has been the subject of our studies in this chapter and in the previous chapter: someone robbed or stole money or other property from another person and wishes to make amends. As we have learned, the first stage in making amends is restitution: the money or the property must be returned to its rightful owner.

3:
The second possibility raised by our mishnah is when someone has taken a loan from another person. At some stage or other that loan must be repaid. The third possibility is when one party assumes the task of a bailee. We have encountered this term on several occasions during our study of Tractate Bava Kamma. For those of us with short memories here is a quick recap of what we have learned.

A bailee is someone who has in his legal possession money or property that belongs to someone else. There are four categories of such bailees:

• Someone is doing a favour for another by looking after their property;
• Someone has taken a loan from another;
• Someone has hired the use of someone else's property;
• Someone is being paid for looking after someone else's property.

In all such cases there is an element of responsibility, the extent of which depends on the benefit which accrues to the bailee. (The bailee gets no direct benefit from doing someone else a favour while if he receives a loan all the benefit is his.) It goes without saying that in all cases a bailee must eventually restore the deposit to its original owner.

4:
Our mishnah uses two terms which we have rendered "in town" and "out of town". The first means a place where people live, be it a city, a town or a village. The second term is usually translated "desert", but it seems to me that here the term is being used with the meaning of open country or somewhere away from usual habitation.

5:
With these prior explanations we can now understand our mishnah. If someone has to make a repayment for any of the reasons mentioned he may not require the person to whom payment must be made to leave town in order to retrieve his money. The only exception to this rule is where there was a prior agreement between the parties that repayment would not be made in town.

6:
With regards to the exception mentioned in our mishnah the Gemara [BK 118a] makes the following comment:

In other words, would we not naturally understand that no one should have to agree to leave town in order to retrieve their property? The response shows that the stipulation of our mishnah applies in certain rather unusual circumstances:

7:
In his commentary on our mishnah Rabbi YomTov Lippmann Heller [1578-1654] adds what may not be as obvious as it seems:

By this stage in our study of this tractate we are well aware of the dangers that beset a lone traveller in Eretz-Israel under Roman occupation.

8:
Rashi [1035-1105], in his commentary on our mishnah, indicates that if, nevertheless, the donor accepts the return of his money "out of town" the bailee has fulfilled his obligations.

We are approaching the end of our study of Tractate Bava Kamma. I have already started receiving suggestions as to which tractate we should study when we have completed our study of Bava Kamma. In this regard Michael Epstein has written to me:

I would find it helpful if you would kindly list 3 or 4 possibilities with reasons for why we might want to study those so that I can make an informed decision. I don't have enough knowledge about the as yet unstudied tractates to choose one.

So, let me clarify: when I have received the suggestions of participants I shall publish them, with a brief explanation about the contents of each suggested tractate, and, as in the past, everyone will then be asked to vote for the tractate that they would most like to study.

So, those who are able to so so, Please send me an email if you have a request or a suggestion as to which tractate or tractates we should study next.