Bava Kamma - Daf 49
- Machlokes how to assess דמי ולדות
The next Mishnah, beginning on the bottom of Daf 48b, explains how to evaluate דמי ולדות to pay when striking a pregnant woman caused a miscarriage. The Tanna Kamma says we assess the woman’s value while pregnant and after miscarrying, and he pays the difference. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: א"כ משהאשה יולדת משבחת – If so, a woman increases in value after giving birth! אלא שמין את הולדות כמה הן יפין – Rather, we assess the offspring to determine their value. Rabbah explains Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel’s statement: וכי אשה משבחת קודם שתלד יותר מלאחר שתלד – Is a woman more valuable before she gives birth than after she gives birth? Since childbirth is dangerous, her value is lower when she is pregnant! Rather, we evaluate the fetuses themselves. A Baraisa supports this reading. Rava explains differently: וכי אשה למי שיולדת משבחת – Does the woman increase in value only for the man for whom she is giving birth, ואין לעצמה בשבח ולדות כלום – and has nothing for herself of the appreciation of her body through the offspring? Her personal increase in value because of her improved appearance is divided between them. A Baraisa supports this reading. The Gemara explains that the first Baraisa refers to a מבכרת – woman bearing her firstborn, when it is unknown if she can survive childbirth.
- If the wife of a deceased convert acquires the דמי ולדות, or שבח ולדות
The Mishnah taught that if someone strikes a giyores who was married to a ger, and he dies without heirs, the damager is exempt from דמי ולדות. Rabbah says that if he struck her after the husband died, זכיא לה איהי בגוייהו – she has already acquired [the offspring] when he died, and she receives דמי ולדות. Rav Chisda objected: מרי דיכי – Master of this teaching! אטו ולדות צררי נינהו וזכיא בהו – Are offspring bundles of money, that she can acquire them when her husband dies?! Rather, if the husband died, no payment is made. Two Baraisos are quoted about this case, one of which says he is liable and the other says he is exempt. Rabbah must concede that his opinion is a machlokes Tannaim, but Rav Chisda can say that the Baraisa requiring payment is Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, who says that the woman receives half-payment for her body’s increased value. Although this is true even while the husband is alive, the Baraisa teaches that if he dies, she receives all the payment for that appreciation. After another answer is given, the Gemara clarifies that regarding her body’s appreciation, דשייכא ידה בגוייהו – where she has a hand in it during her husband’s lifetime, זכיא בהו בכולהו – she acquires all of it when he dies, as opposed to דמי ולדות, which she cannot acquire.
- משכון של גר
Rabbah said: משכונו של ישראל ביד גר – If a security of a Yisroel was in a ger’s possession for money the ger lent him, and he died, no one else can seize the security, because as soon as the ger died, פקע ליה שעבודיה – his obligation is canceled, and the security is automatically its owner’s. If a ger’s security was in a Yisroel’s possession and the convert died, the Yisroel acquires the equivalent of the debt owed him, and someone else can acquire the rest. The Gemara asks that the lender should acquire the whole security with his chatzeir, which is קונה לו שלא מדעתו – acquires for him without his knowledge!? It first answers that the owner was not in the city at the time, and wherever one could not have acquired something himself, his chatzeir cannot acquire it for him either. However, the Gemara concludes that Rabbah’s ruling is only where the security was not in his chatzeir, so the owner did not acquire it; otherwise, he would acquire it even if he is elsewhere.
