Bava Batra 125

ולא היא דאמר רב יימר בר שלמיה לדידי מפרשא לי מיניה דאביי בין מצר ארעא דמינה פלגא ובין מצר ארעא דמינה פסיקא אי א"ל אלין מצרנהא פלגא לא א"ל אלין מצרנהא תשעה קבין:

This, however, is not so, because R. Yemar b. Shelemiah has said: Abaye has himself explained to me that whether he writes, 'The boundary [of the field] is the field from which half has been cut off,' or 'The boundary [of the field] is the field from which a piece is cut off,' if he adds the words, 'these are its boundaries', [then he sells him] half,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The superfluous words being meant to place the purchaser in the most favourable position possible. ');">¹</span> and if he does not add the words 'these are its boundaries', [then he sells him] nine <i>kabs</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The deed being interpreted in favour of the seller, ');">²</span>

פשיטא אמר יחלוק פלוני בנכסי פלגא תנו חלק לפלוני בנכסי מאי

We take it for granted that if a man says, Let so-and-so share<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Heb, yahalok, lit., 'divide'. ');">³</span> my property, [he is to receive] a half. If he says, Give so-and-so a share in my property, what is to be done?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' There being various possibilities, e.g., that he should receive half, or as much as the Beth din think fitting, or an equal portion with the sons of the donor. ');">⁴</span>

אמר רבינא בר קיסי תא שמע דתניא האומר תנו חלק לפלוני בבור סומכוס אומר אין פחות מרביע לחבית אין פחות משמינית לקדרה אין פחות מי"ב לטפיח אין פחות מששה עשר

— Rabina b. Kisi said, Come and hear: it has been taught: If a man says, Give so-and-so a share in a cistern, Symmachus<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who always went on the principle that 'money of which the ownership is in doubt should be divided (between the claimants)'. ');">⁵</span> says that he is to receive not less than a quarter.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The share may mean either a half or a mere fraction. Being in doubt, therefore, we strike the balance. ');">⁶</span>

תנו רבנן בן לוי שמכר שדה לישראל ואמר לו על מנת שמעשר ראשון שלי מעשר ראשון שלו ואם אמר לי ולבניי מת יתן לבניו

[If the man says], Give him a share [in the cistern] for his pail,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., for watering his cattle and not his field, for which at the utmost only half the cistern is required. Hence the gift is at the utmost only half of a half, and we strike the balance between this and a fraction. ');">⁷</span> he is to receive not less than an eighth. [If he says, Give him a share] for his pot,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For purposes of cooking, for which only a third of the cistern is required. ');">⁸</span>

ואם אמר לו כל זמן שהשדה זו בידך מכרה וחזר ולקחה אין לו עליו כלום

he is to receive not less than a twelfth. [If he says, Give him a share] for his drinking cup,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For which only a quarter of the cistern is required. ');">⁹</span> he is to receive not less than a sixteenth.

אמאי אין אדם מקנה דבר שלא בא לעולם כיון דאמר ליה על מנת שמעשר ראשון שלי שיורי שייריה למקום מעשר

Our Rabbis taught: If a Levite sells a field to any [ordinary] Israelite<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., one who is neither priest nor Levite, ');">¹⁰</span> with the stipulation that the first tithe<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' According to the Rabbinical interpretation of Deut. XIV, 22-29, three tithes had to be taken from agricultural produce, the 'first' which had to be given to the Levite, the 'second' which had to be eaten in Jerusalem, and the 'third' which had to be given (once in three years) to the poor. ');">¹¹</span>

אמר ריש לקיש זאת אומרת המוכר בית לחבירו ואמר לו על מנת שדיוטא העליונה שלי דיוטא העליונה שלו

therefrom is to be given to him,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In preference to any other Levite. ');">¹²</span> the first tithe from it must be given to him. If he stipulated that it was to be given to him and to his sons and he then died, it is to be given to his sons. If the stipulation is, 'as long as this field is in your possession,' and he [the purchaser] sells it and then buys it again, the Levite has no claim on him. How can [all] this be, seeing that a man cannot transfer to another possession of something that does not yet exist?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'has not yet come into the world'. How then could the man who bought the field from the Levite make him the possessor of the tithe before even the seed was sown? ');">¹³</span> — Since the Levite stipulated that the first tithe should be given to him, he in effect reserved to himself the area of the tithe.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because otherwise the stipulation would be an idle one, and we must suppose that the Levite meant something with it. ');">¹⁴</span> Resh Lakish said: This shows that if a man sells an apartment to another with the stipulation that the top layer<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] [G]; apparently this refers to the top layer of the parapet surrounding the roof, and the expression is therefore equivalent to 'a roof with a parapet', or 'a roof chamber'. [So Rashb. R. Gersh. and Yad Ramah define it simply as a low-ceilinged upper storey. V. however Krauss, op. cit. I, 23, and Tosaf. 64a, s.v. [H]]. ');">¹⁵</span> is still to belong to him, the top layer belongs to him.