[Se uno dice al suo vicino queste due cose che si contraddicono a vicenda:] "Ti sto vendendo misura di corda, più o meno", ["misura di corda" che connette esattezza e "più o meno", approssimazione], [ quest'ultima frase] "più o meno" annulla [la prima "misura di corda". [E anche se ci fosse un quarto in meno in ogni sa'ah, o un quarto in più, la vendita è in piedi.] (Se dice: "Ti sto vendendo) più o meno, misura di corda", "misura di corda" annulla "più o meno". Queste sono le parole di Ben Naness. [Sostiene che viene seguita l'ultima espressione; e i rabbini differiscono, dicendo che viene seguita l'espressione minore (cioè quella che si traduce in "meno" per l'acquirente), che sia la prima o l'ultima. I rabbini sono in dubbio su quale espressione debba essere seguita, quindi (governano) che l'acquirente prende in accordo con l'espressione che si traduce in meno per lui. L'halachah è conforme ai saggi.] (Se dice :) ["Ti sto vendendo un terreno di terra] entro questi segni e confini" meno di un sesto, la vendita è valida; fino al sesto, detrae (la differenza). [L'intento è: se al beth-kor mancava un sesto (e, ovviamente, meno di un sesto), la vendita è valida. Ma se ci fosse più di un sesto, e verso il basso, fino a (ma non compreso) un sesto, deduce (la differenza).]
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
מדה בחבל וכו' – A person who says to his fellow these two languages that contradict each other, the measure of the rope, which implies be defining exactly/squeezed in/confined whether less or more [as measured by the rope] that implies that he was not strict about a small amount less or more, the latter language which is a small amount less or more nullifies the first language which is that which is measured by the rope, and even if he lessened it a quarter of a Se’ah or made it larger by a quarter of a Se’ah, he has taken possession of it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
Introduction
Mishnah three continues to deal with the measurement of fields for purposes of selling.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
דברי בן ננס – for he holds that one should take hold of the latter language. And the Rabbis disagree with him, whether the first [language] or the latter [language] for they doubt if he took possession of the first language or the latter language. And the purchaser takes the lesser of the measurements, and the Halakha is according to the Sages.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
[If he said], “I will sell you [a piece of land] as measured by the rope, whether it is less or more” the condition “whether it is less or more” makes void the condition “as measured by the rope”. [And if he said], “Be it less or more, as measured by the rope”, the condition “as measured by the rope” makes void the condition “be it less or more”, according to Ben Nanas. In the scenario mentioned in both clauses of section one, the seller uses contradictory language when selling the field. As we learned in mishnah two, when the seller says that he is selling “as measured by the rope”, the intention is that the measurement be precise. On the other hand, if he says, “whether it is less or more” the intention is that the measurement will not necessarily be precise. According to our mishnah if he said both languages within one sentence the last language voids the first language. In other words, we assume that when he said the last language he intended to change his mind from the first language. Therefore the case will be adjudicated only based on the last language.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
בסימניו ובמצריו – He (i.e., the seller) said to him (i.e., the purchaser): “I am selling to you an area requiring a Khor of seed of soil within these markers and these boundaries.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
[If he said, I will sell you a piece of land] by its marks and its boundaries”, and the difference was less than a sixth, the sale stands. If it was as much a sixth the buyer may reduce the price. If a person sold a piece of land using its marks and boundaries as indicators to the place of the land, there is an allowance of up to one-sixth error. Beyond that, meaning more than one sixth error, the buyer may reduce the price if the error was to the seller’s favor (i.e. the land was smaller than stated). Alternatively, the buyer will return money or the property to the seller, if the error was to the buyer’s favor (i.e. the land was larger than stated).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
[הכי גרסינן] פחות משתות הגיעו [עד] שתות ינכה – This is the interpretation: if he lessened it by one-sixth of the area of a Khor of seed, and all the more so, less than one-sixth, he takes possession of it, but more than one-sixth and below up until one-sixth, but not one-sixth included, he deducts from it.
