Traité Bava Kamma

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : based on the word of one witness, which is insufficient evidence according to Jewish law. And we said that this is so only when one individual testifies alone against his fellow Jew, but when two witnesses testify against a Jew, we do not excommunicate them, as their testimony is sufficient evidence according to Jewish law as well, and they have not caused the defendant any unjustified financial loss even according to halakha. And in a case of a single witness also, we said that we excommunicate him only if he testified in a court of villagers [demagista], but if he testified in the official government courthouse [bei davar], he is not excommunicated. This is because they also prescribe an oath to the defendant based on the testimony of a single witness, but they do not expropriate money, in accordance with Jewish law.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara relates that Rav Ashi said: When I was in the academy of Rav Huna, the following dilemma was raised before us: What is the halakha with regard to an important person, whose testimony is relied upon by the gentile courts as if it were the testimony of two witnesses? Since the gentile court will expropriate money based on his word, should the halakha be that he should not testify? Or perhaps, since he is an important person, he cannot escape the authorities who demand his testimony, and he may therefore testify. The Gemara concludes: The dilemma shall stand unresolved.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : § The Gemara cites another situation where a Jew is excommunicated for causing harm to another Jew. Rav Ashi said: In the case of a Jewish man who sells a gentile a plot of land that is on the border of the property of his fellow Jew, we excommunicate him. What is the reason? If we say it is because he has ignored the right of one whose field borders the field of his neighbor to be the first one offered the purchase of the field, but doesn’t the Master say: With regard to one who purchases land from a gentile, and one who sells land to a gentile, there is no right of one whose field borders the field of his neighbor to be the first one offered the purchase of the field?

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Rather, it is because we say to him on behalf of the owner of the adjacent field: You have placed a lion, i.e., a dangerous individual, on my border, as the gentile might now cause me harm. Consequently, we excommunicate him until he accepts upon himself responsibility for all harm that comes upon the neighbor due to the gentile’s activities.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : MISHNA: If customs collectors took one’s donkey and gave him a different donkey that was taken from another Jew in its stead, or if bandits took his garment and gave him a different garment that was taken from a Jew in its stead, these items are now his because the owners despaired of retrieving them when they were stolen, and they may therefore be acquired by another. In a case of one who salvages items from a river, or from a troop [hagayis] of soldiers, or from bandits, if the owners of the items despaired of retrieving them, they are his, i.e., they belong to the one who salvaged them. And so too, with regard to a swarm of bees, if the owners despaired of retrieving the bees, they are his, i.e., they belong to the one who found them.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Beroka said: A woman or a minor, whose testimony is not generally accepted by the court, is deemed credible to say: It was from here that this swarm emerged, and it therefore belongs to a certain individual. And one may walk into another’s field in order to salvage his own swarm of bees that has relocated there, and if he damaged some property in the process, he must pay for what he has damaged. But if the bees settled on a branch of a tree, he may not cut off the other’s branch in order to take the bees, even on the condition that he will later give him the money for it. Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Beroka, says: He may even cut off the branch and later give him the money for it as compensation.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : GEMARA: The mishna teaches that one who is given an item by a customs collector or a bandit may keep the item. It was taught in a baraita: If he took a donkey from the customs collector, he must return it to the original owners. The Gemara explains: The tanna of this baraita holds that despair alone does not effect legal acquisition. Consequently, the customs collector did not acquire the donkey, and it initially came into the possession of the individual to whom the customs collector gave it illegally, and he is therefore required to return it to the original owner.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : And there are those who say that the baraita means that if he wants to act beyond the letter of the law and comes to return it voluntarily, he should return it to the original owners, but he is not required to return it. What is the reason that he is not required to return it? It is because despair alone effects legal acquisition and the donkey was, therefore, acquired by the Jew when the customs collector gave it to him. Nevertheless, if he said: I do not want to accept money that is not mine, he returns it to the original owners.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : § The mishna teaches that if customs collectors or bandits replaced one’s item with one taken from another Jew, these items are now his because the owners despaired of retrieving them when they were stolen. In this regard, Rav Ashi says: They taught that the owners certainly despaired of recovering their property only when it was stolen by a gentile bandit, but if it was taken by a Jewish bandit, no, the owner did not necessarily despair of recovering it. This is because the victim of the theft might reason: Tomorrow, I will take him to court and force him to return what he stole.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Rav Yosef objects to this: On the contrary, the opposite is more reasonable: When dealing with gentiles, who judge a case and impose their verdicts with force, he does not despair because he realizes that the gentile court will enforce the law. By contrast, when dealing with a Jew, since Jewish courts merely pronounce a verbal decision but do not have the authority to enforce it, the victim despairs of recovering his property.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Rather, if Rav Ashi’s distinction was stated, it was stated with regard to the latter clause of the mishna, which states: In the case of one who salvages an item from gentiles or from bandits, if the owners despaired of retrieving it, the one who finds it may keep it. The Gemara infers: If it is known that the owners despaired of retrieving it, yes, the finder may keep the item; but in an unspecified situation, where it is not known whether the owners despaired, the finder may not keep the item.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Concerning this, Rav Ashi said: They taught this only when the item was stolen by a gentile bandit, because the gentile court judges a case and imposes its verdict with force, and therefore it cannot be assumed that the owners despair. But if the robbery was committed by a Jewish bandit, since Jewish courts merely pronounce a verbal decision but do not have the authority to enforce it, the victim despairs of recovering his property.