One may say to his neighbor: "Weed with me [today] and I will weed with you [tomorrow]; dig with me, and I will dig with you." But he may not say to him: "Weed with me, and I will dig with you; dig with me, and I will weed with you. [Sometimes one (activity) is more difficult than the other, and agar natar ("reward for waiting") obtains.] All the days of the dry season are one, and all the days of the rainy season are one. [And we are not concerned about one day being longer than the other. And it is permitted to tell one: "Dig with me this day of the dry season, and I will dig with you a different day of the dry season." And so, with the rainy season.] He may not say to him: "Plow with me in the dry season, and I will plow with you in the rainy season." [For field work is more difficult in the rainy season.] R. Gamliel says: There is antecedent ribith and supervening ribith. How so? If he thought to borrow from him and he sent him a gift, thinking: "So that you lend me," this is antecedent ribith. If he borrowed from him and returned his money and sent him a gift, saying: "For the money that was 'idle' with me," this is supervening ribith. R. Shimon says: There is ribith of words: He (the borrower) should not say to him: "Know that that man is coming from that place."
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
נכש עמי – [weed with me] today, and I will weed with you tomorrow. Weeding is the removal of bad grasses that grow in the grain.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
Introduction
The first half of mishnah ten deals with a person who strikes a bargain with another person that each will help the other to do some field work. As we will see such an arrangement can be potentially usurious. In the second half of the mishnah Rabban Gamaliel gives a general definition of two different types of usury and Rabbi Shimon discusses verbal usury.
Mishnah eleven completes our discussion about usury by stating that all who are involved in an usurious contract violate the Torah and discussing which specific commandments they violate.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
עדור – dig
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
One may say to his fellow, “Help me weed and I will help you weed” or “Help me hoe and I will help you hoe.” But one may not say, “Help me weed and I will help you hoe”, or “Help me hoe and I will help you weed”. Reuven is allowed to make an arrangement with Shimon that one day he will work for Shimon and the other day Shimon will work for him, as long as both are doing the same work. If, however, Reuven helps weed and Shimon helps hoe or vice versa, and one of the labors is more difficult than the other, the bargain is forbidden because of usury. The problem is that the one who does the work for his friend second may do a more difficult type of labor in return for having his work done first. This is a form of usury, since one person will get back more in return for waiting to be paid for his work.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
לא יאמר לו נכש עמי ואעדור עמך – sometimes this one is harder than that one, and there is here compensation for waiting (i.e., advancing the money to the seller – see Bava Metzia 63b).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
All days of the dry season are accounted alike, and all days of the rainy season are accounted alike. One may not say to another, “Help me plow in the dry season and I will help you plow in the rainy season.” Just as two different types of labor may not be exchanged for one another, so too the same labor may not be exchanged for the same labor if they are done during different seasons. Since working in one season may be harder than working in another, if the one who does the work for his friend second does the work in a harder season he is in essence repaying the loan of his friend’s work with interest.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
כל ימי גריד אחד – and we are not troubled if one day is greater than its neighbor (i.e., during the dry season/summer); and similarly, all the days of rainfall [in the autumn] are one, and it is permissible to say, hoe/dig with me on this day of the dry season/days of sunlight and I hoe/dig with you one day of the dry season/days of sunlight, and similarly with the days of rainfall.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
Rabban Gamaliel says: “There is interest that is paid in advance and interest that is paid afterward. How is this so? If a one intended to borrow from another and made him a present and said, “This is so that you will lend to me”, this is interest that is paid in advance. If one borrowed from another and repaid it to him, and then sent a present and said, “This is for your money of which you have not had use while it was with me”, this is interest that is paid afterward. Rabban Gamaliel explains that it is forbidden to pay interest either before or after the loan is executed. Therefore, a person cannot give another person a present in order that that person would loan him money, since this is prepaid interest. Neither can a person give another a present for having loaned him money, since this is interest paid afterwards.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
גריד – days of the sunlight.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
Rabbi Shimon says: “There is interest paid in words: one may not say to his creditor, “Know that such and such a person has come form such and such a place.” According to Rabbi Shimon, interest need not only be a gift of things, money or work from the borrower to the creditor. Interest may even be verbally given to the creditor. If the debtor passes needed information to the creditor in return for the loan, this is interest through words alone. [In our days this might be akin to giving a stock tip to someone in return for a loan.]
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
רביעה – days of rainfall.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
Questions for Further Thought: Mishnah ten, section three: Why does Rabban Gamaliel use the example of a present given as interest as opposed to money? Is he trying to teach some additional information?
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
ואני אחרוש עמך ברביעה – for the days of rainfall are more difficult for the work in the fields
