Commentary for Bava Kamma 14:15
אליבא דרבי ישמעאל לא תבעי לך דאמר בדניזק שיימינן
— But when R. Papa and R. Huna the son of R. Joshua had arrived from the house of study<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] V. Sanh. (Sonc. ed p. 387, n. 7. ');"><sup>13</sup></span>
Tosafot on Bava Kamma
Do not raise the dilemma in accordance with Rabbi Yishmael, as he says we appraise according to [that of] the injured [party]. The Gemara is quite certain that according to R’ Yishmo’ail determining the qualities of finest, middle or poorest cannot be calculated by world standards. Why is the Gemara so sure?
Since R’ Yishmo’ail learns from a textual comparison using the words שדה שדה, one ‘שדה’ appears in the verse “the best of his fields… he shall use for payment” and the other ‘שדה’ from the verse “and he will destroy another’s field” which is clearly referring to the field of the victim. The designation of the finest is based only on the field of the victim because it is his field that the Torah is discussing in the verse “and he will destroy another’s (the victim’s) field”. However, according to R’ Akiva it is possible that his intention when he says the field of the person paying is to be used as a barometer for the finest he only comes to exclude the victim’s finest and not the finest according to world standards.
Since R’ Yishmo’ail learns from a textual comparison using the words שדה שדה, one ‘שדה’ appears in the verse “the best of his fields… he shall use for payment” and the other ‘שדה’ from the verse “and he will destroy another’s field” which is clearly referring to the field of the victim. The designation of the finest is based only on the field of the victim because it is his field that the Torah is discussing in the verse “and he will destroy another’s (the victim’s) field”. However, according to R’ Akiva it is possible that his intention when he says the field of the person paying is to be used as a barometer for the finest he only comes to exclude the victim’s finest and not the finest according to world standards.
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