Chapter 1 · HaShutafin

Damage by sight

Lesson 2 of 44 25 min

Is looking into a neighbor's courtyard a form of damage? The Gemara reads closely.

Lesson goals

01Restate the source in your own words.
02Identify the central distinction and explain its significance.
03Apply the distinction in the exercise without adding a ruling absent from the source.

Source and decoding - Bava Batra 2b

Bava Batra 2b

טַעְמָא דְּרָצוּ, הָא לֹא רָצוּ – אֵין מְחַיְּיבִין אוֹתוֹ; אַלְמָא הֶיזֵּק רְאִיָּה לָאו שְׁמֵיהּ הֶיזֵּק.

The Gemara infers: the reason is that they wished - had they not wished, he is not compelled.

The Gemara infers: the reason is that they wished - had they not wished, he is not compelled. If building happens only by wish, there seems to be no duty, suggesting: damage by sight is not called damage. The Gemara will test this inference and propose other readings of "partition."

Building the reasoning

1Restate the source in your own words.
2Identify the central distinction and explain its significance.
3Apply the distinction in the exercise without adding a ruling absent from the source.

Terms to decode

טעמא

the reason

הא

but if

היזק ראייה

damage by sight

Before moving on

Insight

This lesson is a study framework, not a halachic ruling. Check everything in the sources, and bring practical questions to a rabbi.

Practice

Phrase the inference in three steps: what is written, its converse, the proposed conclusion.

Lesson wrap-up

Inference from wording is a basic tool - but the Gemara tests it rather than accepting it at once.

Check your understanding

Test yourself before marking the lesson complete.

Question 1 of 4

What is the first suggestion from the inference?

Previous lessonA partition in a shared courtyard

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