Bava Kamma 2 - Shabbat November 4, 20 Cheshvan

Bava Kamma bookmark and checklist Today's daf is sponsored by Caroline Ben-Ari in honour of her birthday, which falls today according to the Hebrew date and on Shabbat according to the civil date.  The Mishna lists four main categories of damages - an ox, a pit, maveh (either damage by humans or the teeth of an animal), and fire.  The Mishna makes a few distinctions between the categories. The idea that there are main categories implies that there are subcategories as well. This is compared to the laws of Shabbat and impurity where there are also main categories and sub-categories. However, regarding Shabbat, the sub-categories have the same stringency as the main category, whereas regarding impurity they are more lenient. What about sub-categories of damages - are they as strict or more lenient than the main category? Rav Papa answered that some are as strict and some are not, but he did not clarify which are as strict and which are more lenient. To answer this question, they bring a braita with the main categories of damages of an ox - goring (keren), eating (shen), and trampling (regel). What is the source for these categories? What are the sub-categories of keren? After going through each of the four sub-categories, they conclude that they have the same nature as the main category of goring and therefore, they must be the ones that are as strict as the main category, and eating and trampling must have sub-categories that are more lenient.