Commentary for Bava Kamma 159:15

רב ושמואל ורב אסי איקלעו לבי שבוע הבן ואמרי לה לבי ישוע הבן רב לא עייל קמיה דשמואל

it would not be right to order him to enter into a contract immediately, until he finds a house or a woman to suit him. Once a woman being annoyed by her son jumped up [in anger] and swore: 'Whoever will come forward and offer to marry me, I will not refuse him', and as unsuitable persons offered themselves to her, the matter was brought to the Sages, who thereupon said: Surely this woman did not intend her vow to apply save to a suitable person. Just as the Sages said that it is not right to breed small cattle, so also have they said that it is not right to breed small beasts. R. Ishmael said: It is however allowed to breed village dogs,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which are small and harmless. ');">¹¹</span> cats, apes, <i>huldoth sena'im</i> [porcupines], as these help to keep the house clean.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Tosef. B.K. VIII. ');">¹²</span> What are <i>'huldoth sena'im'</i>? — Rab Judah replied: A certain creeping animal of the <i>harza</i> [species]. Some say, of the <i>harza</i> [species]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Harza probably denotes 'digger', and harza 'stinging', v. Lewysohn, Zoologie. p. 94.] ');">¹³</span> with thin legs which pastures among rose-bushes, and the reason why it is called 'creeping' is because its legs are [short and] underneath it. Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: We put ourselves in Babylon with reference to the law of breeding small cattle on the same footing as if we were in Eretz Yisrael. R. Adda b. Ahabah said to R. Huna:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. Naz. 57b. ');">¹⁴</span> What about your small cattle? He answered him: Ours are guarded by Hoba.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who was the wife of R. Huna. ');">¹⁵</span> He, however, said to him: Is Hoba prepared to neglect her son so much as to bury him?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Surely since she has to mind her children she cannot conscientiously guard the cattle. (Tosaf.) ');">¹⁶</span> In point of fact, during the lifetime of R. Adda b. Ahabah, no children born of Hoba survived to R. Huna. Some report: R. Huna said: From the time Rab arrived in Babylon,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [In 219 C.E. V. Funk, Die Juden in Babylonian, I, note III.] ');">¹⁷</span> We put ourselves in Babylon with reference to breeding small cattle on the same footing as if we were in Eretz Yisrael. Rab and Samuel and R. Assi once met at a circumcision of a boy,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'the week of the son', as the circumcision is performed on the eighth day; cf. Lev. XII, 3. [On the term, 'week of the son' v. B.B. (Sonc. ed.) p. 246. n. 8.] ');">¹⁸</span> or as some say, at the party for the redemption of a son.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., in the case of a first-born who has to be redeemed on the 31st day; cf. Num. XVIII, 16. ');">¹⁹</span> Rab would not enter before Samuel,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For the reason to be stated. ');">²⁰</span>

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