Julian Ungar-Sargon

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Daf Ditty

A wide-ranging commentary on the daily page of Talmud.

Illustration explaining the relevance of the total solar eclipse of 29 May, 1919, from the 22 November 1919 edition of The Illustrated London News

Bava Metzia 21: אִי דֶּרֶךְ נְפִילָה

jyungar March 20, 2024

For the source text click/tap here: Bava Metzia 21

To download, click/tap here: PDF

We begin Perek II the most famous perk which all your bochruim begin talmud, with the following question:

The mishna teaches as an example of items that one finds without any distinguishing mark: If one found scattered produce.

The Gemara asks: And how much produce in how large an area constitutes scattered produce?

Rabbi Yitzḥak says: It is considered scattered produce when it has a dispersal ratio of one kav in an area of four by four cubits.

The Gemara asks: What are the circumstances? If he found the produce scattered in a manner indicating that it came there by falling and was not deliberately placed there, then even if the volume of produce in that area was greater than this limit, it should also belong to him, because there is no distinguishing mark that would enable the owner to reclaim it.

Falling rather than deliberately placing allows us to examine the history of gravity and th resistance of some latter day Rabbis to the implications of modern science.

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Julian Ungar-Sargon

This is Julian Ungar-Sargon's personal website. It contains poems, essays, and podcasts for the spiritual seeker and interdisciplinary aficionado.​