Bava Batra 267

אם לאו אי אתה יכול להוציא מה שהחזרתי אמר הטיח עלי בן עוזיאל הטיח עלי בן עוזיאל

if not, neither can you take back what I have returned'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If the sale and the consecration are valid it follows that the estate has passed into the absolute ownership of Jonathan. Consequently he is entitled to dispose of it in any way he pleases. Hence his gift to the sons of the deceased is also legally valid. ');">¹</span> He exclaimed: 'The son of Uzziel has confounded<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'cast mud'. ');">²</span>

מעיקרא מאי סבר משום מעשה דבית חורון

me, the son of Uzziel has confounded me!'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Tacitly admitting defeat. ');">³</span> Why did he first hold [a different opinion]? — On account of the incident at Beth Horon.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ned. 48a. ');">⁴</span>

דתנן מעשה בבית חורון באחד שהיה אביו מודר הימנו הנאה והיה משיא בנו ואמר לחבירו הרי חצר וסעודה נתונין לך במתנה ואינן לפניך [אלא כדי] שיבא אבא ויאכל עמנו בסעודה

For we learnt: Once it happened at Beth Horon with a person whose father was forbidden, by a vow, to derive any benefit from him. Celebrating the marriage of his [own] son, he said to his friend, 'The court and the banquet are presented to you as a gift, but they are at your disposal only with the object that [my] father comes and dines with us at the banquet'. [The other] said to him, 'If they are mine, behold, they are consecrated to the Temple'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'heaven'. ');">⁵</span> The first said to him, 'I did not give you my possessions that you shall consecrate them to the Temple!' 'You gave me yours', said the other, 'only [with the object] that you and your father might eat and drink and be reconciled to one an other while the sin<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For the breach of the vow; since the presentation of the court and banquet was mere sham. ');">⁶</span>

אמר לו אם שלי הן הרי הן מוקדשין לשמים אמר לו לא נתתי לך את שלי שתקדישם לשמים אמר לו לא נתת לי את שלך אלא שתהא אתה ואביך אוכלין ושותין ומרצין זה לזה ויהא עון תלוי בראשו

will fall upon my head!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As one guilty of aiding and abetting. ');">⁷</span> [Thereupon],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. BaH., Ned. 48. a.l. ');">⁸</span>

אמרו חכמים כל מתנה שאינה שאם הקדישה מוקדשת אינה מתנה:

the Sages said: Any gift which is not [of such a character] as would [allow it to] become sacred when [the recipient] consecrated it, is not a [proper] gift.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' From this it follows that a gift which is dependent on certain conditions is not legally valid. Shammai, drawing an analogy between this case and that of Jonathan, where the father was manifestly determined that his sons shall have no benefit from his estate, disputed the legality of the return of the third to the sons. Though the father's condition was not explicit it was sufficiently implicit, in the opinion of Shammai, to render the gift to Jonathan entirely dependent on its fulfilment. Jonathan by his reply pointed out to Shammai that the gift to him could not possibly he regarded as conditional, since it was generally conceded that he was fully entitled to sell it and to consecrate it and to dispose of it in any way he liked. [For a different version of the story, v. J. Nedarim, v. 6]. ');">⁹</span> Our Rabbis taught:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Suk. 28a. ');">¹⁰</span>

תנו רבנן שמונים תלמידים היו לו להלל הזקן שלשים מהן ראוים שתשרה עליהן שכינה כמשה רבינו שלשים מהן ראוים שתעמוד להן חמה כיהושע בן נון עשרים בינוניים גדול שבכולן יונתן בן עוזיאל קטן שבכולן רבן יוחנן בן זכאי

Hillel the Elder had eighty disciples. Thirty of them deserved that the divine presence shall rest upon them as [upon] Moses our teacher. Thirty of them deserved that the sun shall stand [still] for them as [for] Joshua the son of Nun.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V., Josh. X, 12-13. ');">¹¹</span> Twenty were of an average character. The greatest of them<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The average disciples (R. Gersh.). ');">¹²</span>

אמרו עליו על רבן יוחנן בן זכאי שלא הניח מקרא ומשנה גמרא הלכות ואגדות דקדוקי תורה ודקדוקי סופרים וקלין וחמורין וגזרות שוות ותקופות וגמטריאות ומשלות כובסים ומשלות שועלים שיחת שדים ושיחת דקלים ושיחת מלאכי השרת ודבר גדול ודבר קטן

was Jonathan b. Uzziel; the least of them was R. Johanan b. Zakkai. It was said of R. Johanan b. Zakkai that his studies included<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'he did not leave'. ');">¹³</span>

דבר גדול מעשה מרכבה ודבר קטן הויות דאביי ורבא לקיים מה שנאמר (משלי ח, כא) להנחיל אוהבי יש ואוצרותיהם אמלא

the Scriptures, the Mishnah, the Gemara,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The interpretation and elucidation of the Mishnah. ');">¹⁴</span> the Halachoth,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] plur. of Halachah, [H] ');">¹⁵</span>

וכי מאחר דקטן שבכולם כן גדול שבכולם על אחת כמה וכמה אמרו עליו על יונתן בן עוזיאל בשעה שיושב ועוסק בתורה כל עוף שפורח עליו נשרף:

the Aggadoth;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] plur. of Aggada, [H] ');">¹⁶</span> the subtle points of the Torah and the minutiae of the Scribes; the inferences from minor to major and the [verbal] analogies; astronomy and geometry;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Aboth III, 23 and notes, a.l. ');">¹⁷</span>

<big><strong>מתני׳</strong></big> האומר זה בני נאמן זה אחי אינו נאמן ויטול עמו בחלקו

washer's proverbs<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [The washer is a well known figure in Roman comedy, v. Krauss, TA, I, 520, note 325.] ');">¹⁸</span> and fox fables; the language of the demons, the whisper of the palms, the language of the ministering angels and the great matter and the small matter. The 'great matter' is the manifestation of the [divine] chariot<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] the esoteric lore concerning the divine chariot described in Ezek. I. ');">¹⁹</span>

מת יחזרו נכסים למקומן

and the small matter is the arguments of Abaye and Raba.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Whose keen discussions and arguments occupy a considerable portion of the present Gemara. [For a discussion of the various branches of study mentioned in this passage, v. Blau, Sauberwesen, 46f.] ');">²⁰</span> Thereby is fulfilled the Scriptural text, That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance and that I may fill their treasuries.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Prov. VIII, 21. ');">²¹</span>

נפלו לו נכסים ממקום אחר יירשו אחיו עמו:

Now, if the least among them [was] so, how great must have been the greatest among them! It was related of Jonathan b. Uzziel [that] when he sat and studied the Torah, every bird that flew over him was burned. <b><i>MISHNAH</i></b>. IF A PERSON STATES, 'THIS IS MY SON', HE IS BELIEVED. [IF, HOWEVER, HE STATES], 'THIS IS MY BROTHER', HE IS NOT BELIEVED,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If the other brothers dispute his statement. ');">²²</span>

<big><strong>גמ׳</strong></big> זה בני נאמן למאי הלכתא אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל ליורשו ולפטור את אשתו מן היבום

BUT HE<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The doubtful brother. ');">²³</span> RECEIVES [A SHARE] WITH HIM IN HIS PORTION.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the case of two brothers, A and B, for example, one of whom (A) does not, and the other (B) does acknowledge a third person (C) as a brother, the estate is divided into three portions, and each one of the two brothers (A and B) receives one and a half of these portions (half the estate). The second (B), however, retains only one portion (a third of the estate) to which he is in any case entitled, giving to the doubtful brother (C) the half of the third portion. Should C ever be able to establish his brotherhood, he would also be entitled to receive from A the other half of the third portion. ');">²⁴</span> [IF] HE<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The doubtful brother. ');">²³</span> DIES, THE PROPERTY<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The half of the third portion which B (v. previous note) has given him. ');">²⁵</span> REVERTS TO ITS OWNER.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'their place'. I.e., to B from whom he received it. The other brother (A), who previously disowned, and denied C the second half of the third portion, is not entitled to claim any portion at all of that which was allowed him by B. Even if C were his real brother from whom he is entitled to inherit, A has no claim now, since he already received his share of C's estate by his retaining the half of the third portion. ');">²⁶</span> [IF, HOWEVER,] HE ACQUIRED PROPERTY FROM OTHER SOURCES,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'property fell to him from another place', either as an inheritance or as a gift or purchase. ');">²⁷</span> HIS BROTHERS SHARE THE INHERITANCE WITH HIM.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' With B, since he had acknowledged them as brothers of C. ');">²⁸</span> <b><i>GEMARA</i></b>. 'THIS IS MY SON', HE IS BELIEVED; in [respect of] what legal practice? — Rab Judah said in the name of Samuel: As regards the right of heirship,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'to inherit him'. ');">²⁹</span> and the exemption of his wife from levirate marriage.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Deut. XXV, 5. ');">³⁰</span>