Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Baba Bathra

Folio 98a

THAT IS SWEET¹  I AM SELLING YOU, HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS PRESERVATION UNTIL PENTECOST.²  AND [IF HE SAID, 'I SELL YOU] OLD [WINE.' HE MUST SUPPLY WINE] OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR; [IF] VERY OLD [WINE.' HE MUST SUPPLY WINE] OF THREE YEARS STANDING³

GEMARA. R. Jose, son of R. Hanina, said: [The law⁴  in] our Mishnah is applicable only [to the case where the wine is] in the jugs of the buyer,⁵  but [where it is] in the jugs of the seller [the former] can say to him, 'Take your wine and take your jug'.⁶  But what matters it [even] if the jugs are the seller's? Let him say to [the buyer]. 'You should not have kept it so long'!⁷  — The law [mentioned] is applicable [to the case] where [the buyer] said to him [that he required the wine] for [flavouring] dish[es].⁸  But what compels R. Jose, son of R. Hanina, to explain our Mishnah as treating of the case where the jugs belong to the buyer and that he [specially] says [to the seller that he requires the wine] for [flavouring] dish[es]? Let him rather explain⁹  that it treats [even] of [the case where the] jugs belong to the seller and where [the buyer] does not say to him [that he requires the wine] for [flavouring] dish[es]? — Raba replied: Our Mishnah presented to him a difficulty, for it teaches: IF HIS WINE IS KNOWN TO TURN SOUR, THE PURCHASE IS ONE BASED ON ERROR, why. [R. Jose asked,] should that be so? Let [the seller] tell him, 'You should not have kept it so long' — From this,¹⁰  then, it must be inferred that [the buyer specifically] said to him [that he required the wine] for [flavouring] dish[es].¹¹  This view¹²  is in disagreement with that of R. Hiyya b. Joseph, for R. Hiyya b. Joseph said: The condition of] wine depends on its owner's luck¹³  for it is said. Yea, moreover, wine is treacherous¹⁴  if the man is haughty,¹⁵  etc.¹⁶

R. Mari said: One who is proud is not acceptable even to his own household, for it is said. A haughty man abideth not,¹⁷  this means. he abideth not¹⁸  in his own abode.

Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: Any one who is not a scholar, and parades in the scholar's cloak, is not admitted within the circle of the Holy One, blessed be He; [for] here it is written. And he abideth not¹⁹  and there it is written. To thy holy abode.²⁰

Raba said: If a man sold a jug of wine to a shopkeeper with the intention to retail it²¹  and when [there still remained] a half or a third, it turned sour, the law is that he²²  must take it back from him.²³  This,²⁴  however, applies only to the case where [the shopkeeper] has not changed the bung-hole, but not [to the case] where he has changed the bung-hole.²⁵  [Furthermore,] this²⁴  applies only to the case where the market day has not [yet] arrived,²⁶  but not [to the case where] the market day has [already] arrived.

Raba further stated: If a man accepted wine²⁷  for the purpose of taking it to the markets of Wal-Shafat,²⁸  and, by the time he arrived there, the price fell, the law is that the owner must accept it.²⁹

The question was raised, what is the law if it turned into vinegar?³⁰  — R. Hillel said to R. Ashi: When we were at R. Kahana's he said unto us: [In the case when it has turned into] vinegar, [the owner is] not [to bear all the loss], for [the law] is not in accordance with [the opinion of] R. Jose, son of R. Hanina.³¹  Others Say: Even [when it has turned into] vinegar. [the seller] must also bear [all the loss] in accordance with [the opinion of] R. Jose, son of R. Hanina.

OLD [WINE, HE MUST SUPPLY WINE] OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR, ETC.

1. Implying that it will keep as long as other good wines,
2. ha-'Azereth [H] 'the gathering', 'the festive gathering'. 'The Feast of Weeks', 'Pentecost'.
3. I.e., two years previous to the current year.
4. That the seller is not responsible if the wine becomes sour.
5. For, in this case, it may be assumed that the buyer's jugs have spoilt the wine.
6. Since it was spoilt in the seller's jugs, the buyer has no responsibility whatsoever for its deterioration, and may cancel the purchase.
7. Since most people buy wine for immediate consumption.
8. Only small quantities at a time are used, and the wine has to be kept for a long time.
9. And so there would be no need to restrict our Mishnah to the case where the jugs are the buyer's. Whether they belonged to the buyer or to the seller, the latter would be free from responsibility since the fact that it was to be used in small quantities for a long period was not mentioned at the time of the purchase.
10. From the fact that the buyer is held responsible.
11. And knowing that his wine turns sour, the seller had no right to sell him it for the purpose required. Now since the second clause of our Mishnah speaks of such a case, the first clause also must speak of such a case; and the reason for the seller's exemption from all responsibility must, therefore, be attributed to the fact that the wine was kept in the jugs of the buyer.
12. That our Mishnah speaks of wine in the buyer's jugs and that, if it had remained in the seller's jugs. the latter would have been responsible.
13. And not upon that of the jugs.
14. I.e., turns sour.
15. A haughty person, who boasts of that which he does not possess, is punished, 'measure for measure', by having that which looks like wine turned into that which in reality is vinegar.
16. Hab. II, 5.
17. Ibid.
18. I.e., 'is not tolerated',
19. Ibid.
20. Ex. XV, 13 [H] 'Habitation', abode', in Ex, is of the same root as [H] 'abideth', in Hab.
21. The shopkeeper is to pay for the wine after it has been sold out, deducting a certain percentage for his trouble.
22. The seller, since he has retained the ownership of the wine, the shopkeeper merely acting as his agent.
23. Must bear the entire loss.
24. That the loss must be borne by the seller.
25. Because it is possible that the change has caused the wine to ferment and to turn sour.
26. So that the shopkeeper cannot be blamed for slackness in selling out.
27. On a commission, undertaking to pay the owner, after it had been sold out, deducting a percentage for his trouble.
28. And not to sell it elsewhere, Walshafat or Belshafat, a town in Susiana famous for its wine market; v. B.M. 73b.
29. I.e., he must bear the loss in value as compared with the price prevailing at the time the wine was accepted; since all the time the wine remained in his ownership.
30. Before it arrived at its destination.
31. Who said, supra, that whenever it was understood at the time of the purchase that the wine had to last for a long period, the seller must bear the loss, if the wine remained in his jugs.

A Tanna taught: [If wine was sold as 'very old'], it must be capable of standing until the Feast of Tabernacles.¹

MISHNAH. IF ONE SELLS A PLACE TO ANOTHER OR ACCEPTS ONE FROM ANOTHER FOR THE PURPOSE OF BUILDING ON IT A WEDDING HOUSE FOR HIS SON,²  OR A WIDOW HOUSE FOR HIS DAUGHTER,³  IT IS TO BE BUILT [IN THE DIMENSIONS OF NO LESS THAN] FOUR CUBITS BY SIX;⁴  THESE ARE THE WORDS OF R. AKIBA. R. ISHMAEL SAID: THIS IS AN OX STALL!⁵  HE WHO DESIRES TO ERECT AN OX STALL,⁶  IS TO BUILD [IT IN THE DIMENSIONS OF NO LESS THAN] FOUR CUBITS BY SIX; A SMALL HOUSE, SIX BY EIGHT; A BIG [ONE]. EIGHT BY TEN; A HALL, TEN BY TEN. THE HEIGHT [OF ANY OF THESE, MUST BE] HALF ITS LENGTH AND HALF ITS WIDTH.⁷  PROOF OF THIS? — RABBAN SIMEON B. GAMALIEL SAID: LIKE THE TEMPLE STRUCTURE.⁸

GEMARA. Why has it been stated, A WEDDING HOUSE FOR HIS SON OR A WIDOW HOUSE FOR HIS DAUGHTER, and not 'a wedding house for his son or daughter, or a widow house for his son or daughter'? — [By this the Mishnah] has taught us incidentally that it is not the [proper] way for a son-in-law to live at the house of his father-in-law; as it is written in Bensira, 'I have weighed all things in the scale of the balance and found nothing lighter than bran; lighter than bran is a son-in-law who lives in the house of his father-in-law; lighter than [such] a son-in-law is a guest [who] brings in [with him another] guest; and lighter than such a guest [is he who] replies before he hears [the question],⁹  for it is written, He that giveth answer before he heareth, it is folly and confusion unto him.'¹⁰

R. ISHMAEL SAID: THIS IS AN OX STALL. HE WHO DESIRES TO ERECT etc. Who is the author of [the statement on] the OX STALL? — Some say the author is R. Ishmael, and some say R. Akiba is the author. Those who say R. Akiba is the author explain it thus, 'Although [the size] is [that of] an ox stall, one sometimes makes his dwelling [as small] as an ox stall'. And those who say R. Ishmael is the author, explain it thus, 'Because he who desires to erect an ox stall makes [it] four cubits by six.'

A HALL, TEN BY TEN. What is the meaning of traklin?¹¹  — An arched hall adorned with roses. It was taught: A kinter [contains] twelve [cubits] by twelve. What is a kinter? — The fore-court¹²  of mansions.

THE HEIGHT … HALF ITS LENGTH AND HALF ITS WIDTH. PROOF OF THIS? — RABBAN SIMEON B. GAMALIEL SAID: LIKE THE TEMPLE STRUCTURE. Who taught, 'PROOF OF THIS…'? — Some say. R. Simeon b. Gamaliel taught it; and this is the purport of what has been said: Whence the PROOF OF THIS? — R. SIMEON B. GAMALIEL SAID: All [dimensions must be in proportion] LIKE [those of] THE TEMPLE STRUCTURE. And some say, the first Tanna has taught this, and R. Simeon b. Gamaliel is astonished [at it] and says to him [to the first Tanna] thus: Whence the proof? [Is it] from the Temple structure? Does everybody make [houses] LIKE THE TEMPLE STRUCTURE?¹³

It was taught: Others say [that] its height [must be] equal to [the length of] its beams.¹⁴  Let it [then] be said [simply]. 'The height [must be] equal to its width'!¹⁵  — If you wish, it can be said [that] a house is wider at the top;¹⁶  and, if preferred, it can be said [the expression 'equal to the length of its beams' is necessary] because there are apertures [in the wall in which the beams are fixed].¹⁷

R. Hanina [once] went out to the country, [and] a contradiction between [the following] verses was pointed out to him. It is written, And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits,¹⁸  but it is [also] written, And before the Sanctuary which was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height¹⁹  thereof!²⁰  He replied unto them: [The last mentioned verse] reckons from the edge of the Cherubim²¹  upwards. What does [this kind of measurement]²²  teach us?

1. From the Tabernacles (the vintage season) of the second year prior to the sale, until the Tabernacles of the year of the sale, making a total period of three complete years. If it did not keep, the seller must bear the loss.
2. In which to live after the wedding.
3. Whose husband dies, and who returns to her father's house.
4. These are to be the dimensions (if none were specified) which one party can enforce upon the other.
5. Not a human dwelling which requires longer dimensions.
6. The Gemara explains, infra, who is the author of this statement.
7. If, e.g., the dimensions are four cubits by six, the height must be, (4 + 6) / 2, five cubits; if ten by ten: the height must be, (10 + 10) / 2, ten cubits.
8. Which was forty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and thirty cubits high, i.e., its height equalled half its length and breadth.
9. [Cf. Sirach, Ecclus. XI, 8.]
10. Prov. XVIII, 13.
11. The Hebrew. equivalent of 'hall' in our Mishnah. Cf. [G] triclinium, 'a dining room with three couches'.
12. Or front garden.
13. Other houses do not require heights in similar proportion.
14. Laid across the width of the house.
15. V. previous note.
16. Since it was usual to make stone walls thinner on top than below, so as to give them a broader basis. The beams which span the house at the top would consequently be longer than the width of the house below.
17. The ends of the beams, resting in the apertures, are included in the length of the beams. A beam, therefore, represents a greater length than the space between the inner side of the walls.
18. I Kings VI, 2.
19. This shows that the height was not thirty cubits, as stated in v. 2, but twenty.
20. Ibid. v. 20.
21. Whose height was ten cubits.
22. Why is the height measured from the Cherubim and not, as might be expected, from the ground?