Responsa for Bava Batra 47:1
בשביל של כרמים דאם איתא דמעלמא אתי כיון דמידדי לא מצי אתי דכל דמידדי והדר חזי ליה לקיניה מידדי ואי לא לא מידדי
with a path between vineyards; for though [there is ground for saying that] it came from a distance. [because it is more than fifty cubits from a cote],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The vines having enabled it to hop further than it would otherwise be able to do. ');"><sup>1</sup></span> yet here, since it can only hop, it cannot have come from a distant cote, because a bird will only hop away from the cote so long as it can still see the cote on turning round, but no further.
Teshuvot Maharam
Q. Thieves broke into A's cellar and inserted a tap into a cask of wine. Subsequently it was discovered that a great deal of wine was missing from the cask. Rabbi Jedidyah, however, permitted the use of the wine that was left in the cask.
A. Though the majority of thieves are Gentiles, and the talmudic dictum regarding Pumbeditha (A.Z. 70a) does not apply to other places, the use of this wine is permitted nevertheless, for there is no evidence that thieves broke into the cellar. Thus the cellar was found locked, while thieves do not trouble themselves to lock a door after their work is done. Therefore we assume that a member of the household inserted the tap, a common enough occurrence. Each member of the household, though he knows that he himself did not tamper with the cask, is nevertheless permitted to drink the wine, for he may assume that one of the other members of the household inserted the tap.
SOURCES: B. p. 295, no. 389. Cf. Asher, Responsa 19, 1.
A. Though the majority of thieves are Gentiles, and the talmudic dictum regarding Pumbeditha (A.Z. 70a) does not apply to other places, the use of this wine is permitted nevertheless, for there is no evidence that thieves broke into the cellar. Thus the cellar was found locked, while thieves do not trouble themselves to lock a door after their work is done. Therefore we assume that a member of the household inserted the tap, a common enough occurrence. Each member of the household, though he knows that he himself did not tamper with the cask, is nevertheless permitted to drink the wine, for he may assume that one of the other members of the household inserted the tap.
SOURCES: B. p. 295, no. 389. Cf. Asher, Responsa 19, 1.
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