Bava Metzia

Embark on a journey of Jewish learning and discovery, exploring the depth of our Bava Metzia resources, where tagged items including audio, programs, and podcast episodes await your exploration.

Bava Metzia 76: I Love My Job

Rabbi Jay Kelman

“’For they are My slaves’ (Vayikra 25:55) – and not slaves to My slaves” (Bava Kamma 116b). Our Sages understood that the employer-employee relationship is in some ways akin to that of master and slave. An employee…
Article
Dec 27, 2016

Bava Metzia 75: In Man We Don't Trust

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Jews pray three times a day to be blessed with material wealth. Yet precisely because so much good can be done with money, it can be a great source of tension, friction and worse[1]. The challenge of wealth – to our character, our sensitivity…
Article
Dec 22, 2016

Bava Metzia 72: I Want to Be a Rich Man

Rabbi Jay Kelman

People convert to Judaism for all kinds of reasons. Ideally, one may accept only those who convert due to a love of Judaism; those who see the beautiful and eternal truths of Judaism. In reality, many who convert do so for some type of…
Article
Dec 20, 2016

Bava Metzia 65: Sale Ends Today

Rabbi Jay Kelman

One of the unique features of the prohibition of charging interest is that the prohibition cannot be waived by the debtor. Whereas Jewish law allows one to waive his monetary rights, charging interest is, as we discussed here, primarily a mitzva…
Article
Dec 18, 2016

Bava Metzia 62: Your Money and Your Life

Rabbi Jay Kelman

The word damim in biblical Hebrew means both blood and money. Lo ta’amod al dam reacha (Vayikra19:16) means not only may we not stand idly by while our brothers’ blood is being spilled we may also not stand idly by while our brothers…
Article
Dec 15, 2016

Bava Metzia 61: Let's Eat Some Rodents

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Teaching in a community school, I often hear from many of my students that they are “not religious.” After all, they don’t observe the laws of Shabbat, nor do they keep kosher strictly (or maybe even at all). They rarely go to shul…
Article
Dec 13, 2016

Bava Metzia 61: A Free Loan

Rabbi Jay Kelman

One of most difficult laws to comprehend, both technically and philosophically, is the Torah prohibition against charging interest – the subject of the fifth chapter of Bava Metzia. From an economic perspective, interest is no more than rent…
Article
Dec 8, 2016

Bava Metzia 59: A Broken Oven

Rabbi Jay Kelman

“If an oven is cut into rings, and sand is placed between the rings, Rabbi Eliezer says it is pure. But the sages say it is susceptible to impurity. This is the tanur shel achnai, the oven of Achnai” (Bava Metzia 59b). It is hard to…
Article
Dec 6, 2016

Bava Metzia 59: Torah Is Not in Heaven

Rabbi Jay Kelman

One of the most famous, powerful and tragic stories in all of Talmudic literature is that of the excommunication of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, known as Rabbi Eliezer Hagadol. The story outline is well known, though many of the details are not.…
Article
Dec 4, 2016

Bava Metzia 58: Verbal Abuse

Rabbi Jay Kelman

“Just as there is ona’ah, oppression, regarding commerce, so too there is ona’ah, oppression, regarding words. One should not say to him, ‘How much is this object?’ if he does not want to buy it. If someone was a…
Article
Dec 1, 2016