Bava Batra 7 - July 2, 26 Sivan

Today's daf is sponsored by Binyamin Cohen and Ranana Dine in honor of their first wedding anniversary. "We got together by learning Daf, and our chevruta eventually led to our chuppah. We are happy to be able to mark our anniversary by sharing our love of Talmud with others through the Hadran community."  Rav Chama brings four rulings - three relating to whether people have the right to make others living next door/on top of them tear down walls, houses, etc. to improve their living space. The fourth relates to concern over people taking advantage of orphans and forging documents to get out of repaying a loan. For what needs can we insist that members of a courtyard share in the costs? Do town residents need to share the costs for a wall, a door, and a lock to protect the city? Do all the residents need to partake equally or do the wealthy pay more (as the enemy generally comes for money), or does each household pay per person (as perhaps the enemy comes to kill), or do the ones living closer to the wall pay more (as they are closer to the danger and need more protection)? Are Torah scholars exempt from payment for the city walls as their Torah learning protects them? Rabbi Yehuda Nesia obligated them but Reish Lakish disagreed and exempted them. Reish Lakish brought a verse to prove his point. Rabbi Yochanan questioned why he chose that verse and not a different verse that illustrates the same point.