Bava Metzia 6 - March 5, 25 Adar 1

Since Rabbi Yochanan explained the reason for the oaths in the Mishna is to prevent one from grabbing the tallit from the other, the Gemara continues to prove that if one can be believed to take an oath even if we are concerned they have stolen. The third attempt to prove this is from a statement of Rav Huna regarding a shomer who claims something happened to the item which would exempt the shomer, but he/she chooses to pay for the item. They take an oath, even though there is a concern that perhaps they want to keep the item for themselves. Again, this proof is rejected as the shomer pays money for the item and can therefore justify keeping the item. Three other oaths - shevuat heiset, a case with a shopkeeper and workers, and the oath taken by a shomer chinam who claims the item was last or stolen can all prove that even one who perhaps is lying is trusted to take an oath. Abaye brings an alternative explanation for the oaths in the Mishna as he does not hold that we can trust one who perhaps is stealing to take an oath. According to Abaye, the concern is that there is a doubt about whether one owes money to the other and therefore the creditor grabs the tallit as payment for the loan in question. Why is Abaye not concerned in that case as well for a false oath? Rabbi Zeira asks: if the two people were holding the tallit in the court and one grabbed it from the other, does the one now holding the entire tallit have full rights to it? In what exact case was this question asked? What are the arguments for and against? Assuming the one holding it gets to keep it, would the same hold true if one consecrated the whole tallit without having grabbed it since regarding consecration, speech is considered the same as pulling an object. To answer this question, the Gemara brings a story about a bathhouse that two people claimed rights to, and then one of them consecrated the bathhouse. Rav Hamnuna ruled that the consecration worked and learned it from a Mishna about a safek bechor but Raba rejected his proof. Rav Chanania brings proof from a braita for Raba's explanation and Abaye first rejects the proof but then reinstates it.