Bava Batra 154 - November 26, 25 Chevshan

When a gift document lacks language indicating either a deathbed or healthy status of the giver, and there is a dispute between the giver claiming it was written while dying and the recipients claiming otherwise, who bears the burden of proof? Rabbi Meir holds that we presume the person was healthy until proven otherwise. The rabbis, however, rule that the gift remains with the giver until proven otherwise. There are two different approaches to understanding this debate. Some hold that the proof necessary according to each opinion is witnesses who will corroborate the facts, whether the giver was healthy or not when the gift was given. According to that understanding, Rabbi Meir and the rabbis disagree along the same lines as Rabbi Natan and Rabbi Yaakov - do we rely on the present state of the giver or the earlier presumption of ownership over the item? Others hold that the rabbis hold that the gift remains with the given unless the recipients can prove that the document is valid. The debate between Rabbi Meir and the rabbis is whether or not a document where the one who wrote it admits it is a document but raises a problem with its validity needs to be ratified. A difficulty is raised against the second understanding, as Rabbi Meir and the rabbi debate this issue elsewhere regarding witnesses who bring a document but raise a doubt on its validity. However, this is resolved as one could have thought to distinguish between a case where witnesses question the validity and where the giver questions the validity. Raba holds by the first explanation. When Abaye questioned his understanding, Raba explained the rabbi's position: since the document should have included that the giver was either sick or healthy and included neither, it creates a doubt on each side and therefore the gift remains in the original owner's property until proven otherwise. Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish also disagree about whether the debate between Rabbi Meir and the rabbis is about who needs to prove whether the giver was sick or healthy or whether the issue surrounds the ratification of the document. At first, the Gemara explains that Rabbi Yochanan holds the debate is about who needs to prove whether the giver was sick or healthy. He then questions Reish Lakish from a braita about a similar case where they needed to prove the seller's age, that he was not too young to have sold the property, rather than ratifying the document, thus proving that ratification alone would not have been effective. To resolve the difficulty, Reish Lakish explains the details of the case differently, in a way that ratification of the document was irrelevant. Reish Lakish brings a Mishna of Bar Kapara to Rabbi Yochanan that implies that a document where the owner admits to having written the document but claims that it is invalid is valid even without ratification. Reish Lakish asks Rabbi Yochanan if this only follows Rabbi Meir's position and not the rabbis, as discussed earlier. Rabbi Yochanan explains that it follows the rabbis' position as well as they both agree on this topic. Two questions are raised against Rabbi Yochanan's answer from sources quoted previously. One is resolved but the second is not. As a result, the entire sugya unravels as Rabbi Zeira explains Rabbi Yochanan's answer in a different manner, that the debate between Rabbi Meir and the rabbis is about ratification of the document and Bar Kapara matches the rabbi's position. This explanation requires switching the positions of Rabbi Meir and the rabbis in both Mishna and the braita quoted previously about the witnesses and switching Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish's explanations of the debate between Rabbi Meir and the rabbis in our Mishna.