Commentary for Bava Batra 130:8

ואלא ר"א דכוורת דבורים דתנן כוורת דבורים רבי אליעזר אומר הרי היא כקרקע וכותבין עליה פרוזבול

is in the same category as the ground. If the vendor uses the formula, 'the house and all its contents', all these things are sold with. In either case, however, he does not sell the well, the cistern, or the verandah. Our Rabbis taught: 'If a man hollows out a pipe and then fixes it, water from it makes a mikweh<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A ritual bath. V. Glos. ');">⁷</span> unfit for use. If, however, he first fixes it and then hollows it, it does not render the mikweh unfit for use.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The rule is that water in the mikweh must not be 'drawn' there by artificial means, i.e., through the instrumentality of a 'vessel', but must flow there naturally. According to this dictum, the fixing of the pipe in the soil does not make it part of the soil, and it still remains a 'vessel'. On the other hand, the hollowing of the wood or stone after it has been fixed does not make it a 'vessel', but it is regarded as being merely a trench in the ground. ');">⁸</span> To whom [are we to ascribe this dictum]? For it cannot be either R. Eliezer or the Rabbis! — Which [statement of] R. Eliezer [have you in mind]?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., with which statement of his is the one just adduced in conflict? ');">⁹</span> Shall I say, the one about the house?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the Baraitha quoted above: 'R. Eliezer says that everything attached to the ground is in the same category as the ground.' ');">¹⁰</span> possibly the reason [why he says there that fixtures are in the same category as the ground] is because he holds that the vendor interprets the terms of sale liberally, whereas the Rabbis hold that he interprets them strictly.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Hence no conclusion is to be drawn from that Baraitha as to the opinions of R. Eliezer and the Rabbis with regard to the mikweh. ');">¹¹</span> Is it then the statement about the beehive, as we have learnt: 'R. Eliezer says that a beehive<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Attached to the ground by mud or clay. ');">¹²</span> is on the same footing as the soil; it may serve as a surety for a <i>prosbul</i>,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. infra p. 324, n. 7. Glos. ');">¹³</span>

Explore commentary for Bava Batra 130:8. In-depth commentary and analysis from classical Jewish sources.