Bava Metzia 7 - March 6, 26 Adar 1

Today's daf is sponsored by Eitan and Pnina Lipsker "in honor of all the women daf yomi learners, especially those who make an extra-human effort to join the Hebrew Zoom at 6:20 every morning. They add kedusha and Torah to Am Yisrael. May we be blessed to continue to learn Torah daily and l'hagdil Torah u'lehaadira."

After deliberations on Bava Metzia 6 regarding a contested item that was sanctified by one of the parties, the Gemara brings a ruling that the sanctification is not effective unless the one who sanctified had proof of ownership that would hold up in court. However, this is limited to land, as the sanctification of moveable items is ineffective unless the item is physically in the domain of the one sanctifying it. Rav Tachlifa brings a braita that states if two people are holding on to part of the tallit, each one gets to keep the part they are holding on to and the remainder is divided evenly. Rabbi Avahu added that this is only if they take an oath. In light of this braita, Rav Papa explains that our Mishna must refer to a case where each was holding onto the edge of the garment. Comparisons are made to other cases like a kinyan sudar or a get, divorce document, where two people are holding onto the object. Are these cases similar or different to our case and why? How is the garment divided if there is gold running through it? A braita discusses the case of two people holding a document - the creditor claiming ownership, such that the debtor still owes the money, and the debtor claiming ownership as the loan was already paid back. Rebbi says the document is validated if the witnesses' signatures can be confirmed. They explain this to mean that if it is validated, the document is split, but if not, since the debtor admits there was a loan, but claims it was paid, the debtor is believed as "the mouth that forbade is the mouth that permitted." Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says they split it in either case. The principle of "the mouth that forbade is the mouth that permitted" is not relevant here as there is a document as well. If the document is found near the judge (meaning, the judge validated it), the rabbis and Rabbi Yosi disagree - is it never able to be collected or does it remain valid for collecting? Rabbi Yosi holds it can be collected as we are not concerned that the debtor already paid back the loan. However, this is difficult in light of a different braita relating to a ketuba that is found and contested by the husband and wife, Rabbi Yosi rules (against the rabbis) that if the woman is divorced or widowed, we assume it was paid. The rabbis suggest three possible ways to resolve the contradiction. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yochanan differentiate between a typical case where two people are holding a document and a case in which one is holding the main part (toref) and one is holding the tofes (the summary at the end which does not include the date. What exactly is this case and how would it be divided? How do we assess the difference between the value of the toref and the tofes?