Bava Metzia 118 - June 25, 19 Sivan

Today’s daf is sponsored by Tzippy Wolkenfeld in loving memory of Yakira Leeba bat Avrohom Yosef Yehuda v'Sara Gita. "Tomorrow marks the first yahrzeit of our beautiful granddaughter Yakira Leeba bat Avrohom Yosef Yehuda v'Sara Gita, a glorious little person who inspired tefilla and chesed around the world." If one has an olive press built into a rock and another has a garden above it, if the ceiling of the olive press collapses, the garden owner can plant on the floor of the olive press. How big must the hole in the ceiling be to allow for this arrangement? Rav and Shmuel disagree here in the same way as they disagreed in the previous Mishna regarding the hole in the floor of the second floor. Why was there a need to mention their debate in both cases - why couldn't we have learned one from the other? If one's tree or wall collapsed and fell onto another's property, if the other is not interested in keeping the debris, the owner of the wall must remove it. But if the owner offered the neighbor to remove and keep the debris and the neighbor agreed, the owner cannot change their mind later and take the debris. Why doesn't the neighbor's courtyard acquire the debris automatically as we have learned that a courtyard of a person acquires objects? The Mishna taught a similar halakha regarding paying wages from the produce the worker is dealing with. If the worker insists on being paid wages, the employer must pay in money. But if the worker agrees to accept the produce, the employer can not change their mind. Why was it necessary to teach this case as well if the ruling was the same as the case of the debris? A contradiction is brought between our mishna and a braita about whether or not an employer can insist that the worker takes his wages in produce.  Rav Nachman brings three different explanations (the first two are rejected) to explain the contradiction. Can one acquire items from hefker by watching them (without lifting them)? If one puts items in the public domain, how long can they be left there? Even if one is allowed to leave them there by law, is the person who left them responsible to pay for damages if they damage another? If a group of people work together to build something, each doing a different part of the work, and after it is built, it breaks and damages someone, who is responsible for paying? If one field is higher than another and something grows from the side of the raised area that borders the two fields, to whom does it belong?