Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Baba Bathra

Folio 68a

in the summer season¹  or in the rainy season, nor the place where the wood is stored. If, however, he says, 'I sell you the bath and all its accessories', they are all included.²

A certain man said to another, 'I herewith sell you this olive press and all its accessories. There were certain shops abutting on it on [the roofs of] which they used to spread sesame seeds.³  [The question if these were included in the sale] came before R. Joseph. He said: [We can decide from what we have learnt:] If he says, 'I sell you a bath and all its accessories,' all are included in the sale.⁴  Said Abaye to him: But has not R. Hiyya learnt that they are not all included?⁵  R. Ashi therefore said: We have to distinguish. If the vendor says, ['I sell you] the olive press and all its accessories, and these are its boundaries,' the purchaser acquires them,⁶  but otherwise not.

MISHNAH. IF A MAN SELLS A TOWN, HE [AUTOMATICALLY INCLUDES THE HOUSES,⁷  THE PITS, DITCHES AND CAVES, THE BATHS, THE PIGEON COTES, AND THE IRRIGATED FIELDS [ATTACHED TO IT], BUT NOT MOVABLES. IF, HOWEVER, HE USED THE WORDS 'IT AND ALL ITS CONTENTS', EVEN IF THERE WERE CATTLE AND SLAVES IN IT THEY ARE ALL SOLD. R. SIMEON B. GAMALIEL SAYS THAT IF ONE SELLS A TOWN HE SELLS ALSO THE SANTER.⁸

GEMARA. R. Aha b. R. 'Awia said to R. Ashi: From this [Mishnah] we may conclude that a slave comes under the head of movables,⁹  since if he came under the head of fixed property, he would be sold along with the town. [You say] then that a slave comes under the head of movables. If so, why does our Mishnah say EVEN [SLAVES]?¹⁰  We must say therefore [must we not], that there is a difference between animate and inanimate movables?¹¹  You may [thus] also hold that a slave comes under the head of land, but that there is a difference between mobile and immobile land.¹²

RABBAN SIMEON B. GAMALIEL SAYS THAT IF ONE SELLS A TOWN HE DOES NOT SELL THE SANTER. What [is meant by] SANTER? — Here¹³  it was translated bar mahawanitha.¹⁴  Simeon b. Abtolmus says that it means tilling fields.¹⁵  According to the one who says that it means a 'recorder', there is no question that fields are sold with the town;¹⁶  but according to the one who says that it means 'fields', the recorder is not sold with the town.¹⁷  We learned: OLIVE PRESSES AND BETH HASHELAHIN [IRRIGATED FIELDS], and it was assumed that beth hashelahin meant tilling fields, as indicated by the Scriptural verse, and [God] sendeth [sholeah] waters upon the fields.¹⁸  Now all is well and good if we adopt the opinion of the one who said the word santer means a 'recorder'; the first Tanna [of the Mishnah] lays down that fields are sold with the town but not the recorder, and Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel comes and tells us that the recorder also is sold. But if we take the word to mean 'fields', has not the first Tanna also said this?¹⁹  — You think that shelahin means tilling fields? No; it means 'orchards', as indicated by the text, Thy shoots [shelahayik] are an orchard of pomegranates,²⁰  [and the first Tanna tells us that these are sold] but not tilling fields,²¹  and R. Simeon comes and tells us that tilling fields also are sold.

According to another version, it was assumed that shelahin means orchards. Now it is all well and good if we take the word santer to mean 'fields'; the first Tanna says that orchards are sold with the town but not fields, and Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel comes and tells us that fields are also sold.

1. When the water supply is low, and therefore it might be thought that the pools go with the bath.
2. Because they are to a certain extent adjuncts of the bath.
3. To dry, in order that they might be crushed in the press and the oil sold afterwards in the shops.
4. And these things are as closely connected with the olive press as the cisterns and wood-shed with the bath.
5. Because they are not part and parcel of the olive press.
6. Because by using this formula the vendor shows that he desires to include the shops.
7. And a fortiori the courts, which form part of the town space.
8. The meaning of this term is discussed in the Gemara.
9. That is, in ordinary parlance when a man speaks of movables he includes slaves.
10. Which implies that ordinarily slaves are not included with movables.
11. Lit., 'mobile and immobile movables'. In point of fact, slaves were acquired in the same way as land and not as movables.
12. And therefore if the town is sold without further specifications it does not include the slaves.
13. In Babylon.
14. Lit., 'one who shows', a recorder; a slave appointed by the town to answer inquiries respecting the boundaries of fields. [Rashi, Sanh. 98b, reads bar mehuznaitha, 'one of the district', v. Krauss, op. cit. II, 570.]
15. A stretch of fields adjoining the town.
16. Being inanimate.
17. Being animate.
18. Job V, 10.
19. And what does R. Simeon add to his ruling?
20. Cant. IV, 13.
21. Which are not actually part of a town like orchards.

But if we take the word to mean 'recorder', when the first Tanna says [that the man who sells the town sells also the] orchards, how can R. Simeon supplement him by saying that he sells the recorder?¹  — Do you think that shelahin means 'orchards'? No; shelahin means 'fields', as indicated in the verse, and sendeth waters upon the fields. [The first Tanna says that these are sold] but not the recorder, and Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel comes and says that the recorder also is sold.

[Which is right? —] Come and hear: 'R. Judah says that the santer is not sold but the town clerk²  is sold.' Since the town clerk is a man, must not the santer also be a man? — This does not follow; the one can be one thing, the other another. But can you possibly maintain this³  Seeing that the Baraitha in its next clause proceeds: '[But one who sells the town does not sell] its remnants nor its adjoining villages nor the woods that open on to it nor its preserves for animals, birds and fishes;' and [in commenting on this] we said: What are remnants? Bizli. And what are bizli? R. Abba said: The fag-ends of fields;⁴  which shows that [in R. Judah's opinion] only such fag-ends are not sold with the town but the fields themselves are? — We must reverse the statement quoted above to read: R. Judah says that the santer⁵  is sold, but the town clerk is not sold. But how can you make R. Judah concur with Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel⁶  seeing that he concurs with the Rabbis, as the latter clause [in the passage quoted above] states: 'Not its remnants nor its adjoining villages', whereas Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel holds that if a man sells a town he does sell the adjoining villages, as it has been taught: 'If a man sells a town, he does not sell its adjoining villages; Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel, however, says that he does sell the adjoining villages?' — R. Judah agreed with him in one thing⁷  and differed from him in another.⁸

'Nor preserves of animals, birds and fishes.' A contradiction was pointed out [between this and the following]: 'If the town has adjoining villages, they are not sold with it. If one part of it is on an island⁹  and one part on the mainland, or if it has preserves of animals, birds or fishes, these are sold with it.' — There is no contradiction. In the one case they open towards¹⁰  the town, in the other away from the town. But did we not learn above that the woods adjoining it [are sold with it]? — We should read, 'that are separated from it'.¹¹

MISHNAH. IF A MAN SELLS A FIELD HE [AUTOMATICALLY] INCLUDES THE STONES WHICH ARE USED IN IT AND THE VINEYARD CANES WHICH ARE USED IN IT¹²  AND THE PRODUCE WHICH IS STILL ATTACHED TO THE SOIL AND A CLUMP OF REEDS OCCUPYING LESS THAN A BETH ROBA'¹³  AND A WATCHMAN'S HUT WHICH IS NOT CEMENTED¹⁴  AND A YOUNG CAROB TREE¹⁵  AND A YOUNG SYCAMORE TREE,¹⁶  BUT HE DOES NOT INCLUDE STONES WHICH ARE NOT FOR USE IN THE FIELD NOR CANES WHICH ARE NOT FOR USE IN THE VINEYARD NOR PRODUCE WHICH HAS BEEN DETACHED FROM THE SOIL. IF HE USES THE WORDS 'IT AND ALL ITS CONTENTS', ALL THESE ARE SOLD WITH IT. IN EITHER CASE, HOWEVER, HE DOES NOT SELL A CLUMP OF REEDS COVERING A BETH ROBA'¹⁷  [OR MORE] NOR A WATCHMAN'S HUT WHICH IS CEMENTED NOR A FULLGROWN CAROB¹⁸  NOR A CROPPED SYCAMORE.¹⁹

1. What has one to do with the other? R. Simeon should have said: He sells the fields and the recorder.
2. An official who kept a record of fields, houses, and inhabitants for purposes of taxation.
3. That the santer in the opinion of R. Judah means 'fields'.
4. Strips at the far end of the stretch of fields separated from the rest by rocky ground or the like.
5. In the sense of 'fields'.
6. In saying that the fields are sold with the town.
7. In regard to the santer.
8. In regard to the adjoining villages.
9. But is still reckoned as belonging to the town and goes under the same name.
10. Lit., 'their aspect breaks through towards'.
11. [H] instead of [H] Being separate they open away from it.
12. This is explained in the Gemara.
13. A quarter of a kab's space, about 200 square cubits. This is too small to be reckoned independently.
14. I.e., put together of loose stones.
15. Lit., 'a carob tree which is not grafted'
16. Lit., 'the virgin of the sycamore', i.e., one not yet pruned.
17. These having an individuality of their own.
18. Lit., 'a carob which has been grafted'.
19. Lit., 'the block of a sycamore'. Sycamore trees are cropped to improve their growth.