Bava Metzia 16 - March 15, 5 Adar 2

Today's daf is sponsored by Miriam Adler in honor of her children’s return to Kibbutz Saad. "May they have many healthy and safe years while building and planting in ארצנו הקדושה." Rav holds that if the seller of stolen land subsequently purchased the land from the original owner, the assumption is that the seller originally sold the land and any rights to the land that the seller may have in the future. Therefore, the land is fully owned by the buyer. The logic behind Rav's ruling is a source of debate between Mar Zutra and Rav Ashi. Is it because the seller doesn't want the buyer to call him/her a thief or because the seller wants to be known as reliable? What is the practical difference between the two? Three answers are brought - the first two are rejected. The Gemara mentions variations on this case where Rav would theoretically rule that the seller did not intend to pass over rights to the buyer. At what stage in the judgment process is this ruling of Rav no longer relevant? Two questions are raised against Rav, but they are resolved. Another ruling of Rav on a related issue: If a seller says to a buyer, "This field will be yours from now, when I purchase it," the sale is effective. Rav holds by Rabbi Meir that one can acquire an item that is "not yet in the world." Shmuel and Rabbi Yochanan debate whether a document in the street that was either ratified by the court or was a shtar hakna'a (in which the land is automatically liened from the date of the document regardless of whether the loan happened or not), gets returned to the credit. Can we assume that it was not yet paid, since if it was, the borrower would have ripped it up, or do we assume that it was paid back, since if it wasn't, the lender never would have lost it?