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Bava Batra

Babylonian Talmud

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Chapter 84a

the buyer can say to the seller: If you had not exploited me, you would not be able to renege on the sale, and I would receive the profit. Now that you have exploited me, can you renege on the sale and benefit? And similarly, the tanna of the mishna also taught: If the seller sold him wheat while claiming that the wheat was good, and it is found to be bad, the buyer can renege on the sale. This implies that the buyer can renege but not the seller, even in a situation where the seller would want to renege on the sale, e.g., if the item became more expensive. And similarly, Rav Ḥisda says: If he sold him an item that was worth six dinars for five dinars, and its price was reduced and its value now stood at three dinars, who was exploited in this case? The seller; therefore, the seller, but not the buyer, can renege on the sale. The reason is that the seller can say to him: If you had not exploited me, you would not be able to renege on the sale. Now that you have exploited me, can you renege on the sale? And similarly, the tanna of the mishna also taught: If the seller sold him bad wheat and it is found to be good, the seller can renege on the sale, but not the buyer. The Gemara asks: What is Rav Ḥisda teaching us? It is all already taught in the mishna. The Gemara answers: If the halakha were derived from the mishna alone, I would say that perhaps in the cases brought by Rav Ḥisda, both the buyer and the seller are able to renege on the sale. The reason is that this is a case of exploitation, as the item was sold for more than its value, and therefore as long the buyer can renege on the sale, the sale is not complete. Consequently, as the seller lost out as well, he can also renege on the sale. And as for the mishna, it comes to teach us that if the seller said that he is selling good wheat and it is found to be bad, the buyer can renege on the sale, as this is considered a case of exploitation. It is necessary to teach this, as it might enter your mind to say that this is not a case of exploitation because it is written: “It is bad, it is bad, says the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasts” (Proverbs 20:14). In other words, it is the usual manner of sellers to praise their merchandise, while buyers disparage it. Therefore, the mishna teaches that the buyer can renege on the sale if the item was found to be bad, and the seller can change his mind if it was found to be good. § The mishna teaches that if the seller said that he was selling reddish-brown [sheḥamtit] wheat and it is found to be white, both the seller and the buyer can renege on the sale. The Gemara assumes that sheḥamtit means the color of the sun [ḥama]. Therefore, Rav Pappa said: From the fact that the mishna teaches: White, in contrast to sheḥamtit, and there are two types of wheat, one white and the other red, conclude from the mishna that this sun is red, not white. Know that this is the case, as it reddens in the morning and evening. And the reason that we do not see the red color all day is because our eyesight is not strong and we cannot discern the redness of the sun. The Gemara raises an objection to this claim: With regard to a verse that speaks of leprosy: “And, behold, if its appearance is deeper than the skin” (Leviticus 13:30), the Sages explain: This means that it is like the appearance of the sun, which is deeper than the shadow. But there, leprosy is white and yet it is likened to the sun. The Gemara answers: There, it means that it has an appearance like the sun in certain respects, but it is not like the appearance of the sun in all respects. It is like the appearance of the sun in that it is deeper than the shadow, and it is not entirely like the appearance of the sun, as there the leprous spot is white, and here the sun is red. The Gemara asks: And according to that which entered our mind initially, that the sun is white, doesn’t it redden in the morning and evening? The Gemara answers: In the morning it becomes red as it passes over the site of the roses of the Garden of Eden, whose reflections give the light a red hue. In the evening the sun turns red because it passes over the entrance of Gehenna, whose fires redden the light.⁠ And there are those who say the opposite in explaining why the sun is red in the morning and the evening, i.e., in the morning it passes over the entrance of Gehenna, while in the evening it passes over the site of the roses of the Garden of Eden. § The mishna teaches: If the seller sold wine and it is found to be vinegar, both the seller and the buyer can renege on the sale. The Gemara suggests: Shall we say that the mishna is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi and not in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis? As it is taught in a baraita:

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 23:4 and Bava Batra 84a

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Rabbinic

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Summary

Rabbinic tradition in tractate Bava Batra explains that the red of the sunset is caused by the sun going over Gehenna at the edge of the world, echoing a cosmological tradition found in Jewish apocalyptic texts such as 1 Enoch.

Passages

1 Enoch 23:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
2 And I saw a burning fire which ran without resting, and did not pause in its course day or night but ran regularly. 3 And I asked saying: 'What is this that does not rest?' 4 Then Raguel, one of the holy angels who was with me, answered me and said to me: 'This course of fire which you have seen is the fire in the west that pursues all the lights of heaven.'
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Bava Batra 84a

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
The Gemara asks: And according to that which entered our mind initially, that the sun is white, doesn’t it redden in the morning and evening? The Gemara answers: In the morning it becomes red as it passes over the site of the roses of the Garden of Eden, whose reflections give the light a red hue. In the evening the sun turns red because it passes over the entrance of Gehenna, whose fires redden the light. And there are those who say the opposite in explaining why the sun is red in the morning and the evening, i.e., in the morning it passes over the entrance of Gehenna, while in the evening it passes over the site of the roses of the Garden of Eden.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Bava Batra

References

... connecting Enoch’s journey with voyages to the underworld. In the present form of the text, however, we would have only an allusion and not a functioning element. The verb in verse 4b is textually doubtful (see note b). According to the Greek (“provides”) the fire of the west reflects on the sky (and the sun) at the time of sunset. A similar idea is found in the Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 84a. The sun’s rosy hue at dawn and sunset reflects the roses of Eden and the fire of Gehenna, through whose gates it passes. The reading of the Ethiopic (“receives”) may indicate that the sun sinks into a fire that renews it for its next rising. It is doubtful whether this fire is to be equated with the fire mentioned in chapter 23 (see commentary on 23:4). ...
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 282, 310–311.

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1 Enoch 23:4 and Bava Batra 84a

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