daf bit: Bava Kama 81

[cellio]

The rabbis taught that Joshua made ten stipulations upon entering the land of Israel. One of them is that a dead body, which we must bury upon finding it, automatically has the right to be buried where found. The g'mara clarifies: if the body is found in the road, it may be removed to either side to be buried. If on one side there is an uncultivated field and on the other a fallow one, he should be buried in the uncultivated field. If on one side there is a fallow field and on the other a planted field, he should be buried in the fallow one. But if both fields are in the same state the finder may remove the body to any place he likes for burial. (81b)

(It is not clear to me whether "any place" really means that, or if it just means either of these two options. Joshua's edict would seem to mean by the side of the road, not halfway across the county.)

Comments

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

The clarification appears to be an "urminhu" -- they challenged the plain teaching by bringing in another mishna or a baraita. (Soncino cites Eruvin 17b here.)

The text at the end is lamakom sheyirtzeh; I would have expected l'sadeh sheyitzeh if he was limited to one or the other field. The introduction of "makom" here implies to me that, yes, it means any place. And in the next sentence of the gemara, Rav Bibi addresses this exact point: once the met mitzvah's right to burial on the spot where he was found has been overridden by the requirement to keep the roads passable by kohanim, we have the right to bury him wherever it is convenient for us, not necessarily in the closest available spot.

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

But what does one do upon finding three stacked bodies in the middle of the road?

[dsrtao]

Look for a murderer.

[cellio]

And in the next sentence of the gemara, Rav Bibi addresses this exact point

I wasn't sure whether Rav Bibi had authority -- that is, "the rabbis" said the first part, then Rav Bibi says a special case; do we understand Rav Bibi to be correct, or is this a disagreement? Is there a way to tell?

(Do I correctly understand Rav Bibi to be saying that the dead person gives permission to move him? When I read it last night I thought he was talking about permission from the land-owners to either side, but on closer reading I'm pretty sure that's not correct.)

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

I read the structure thus:

1. [Here's the tenth rule of Joshua:] ומת מצוה קנה מקומו: And a met mitzvah acquires his place.
1a. ורמינהי --- and the assertion that this is in fact a halacha can be challenged from the following source of equal rabbinic authority: [and the entire following teaching, which you translated above, is the source]
1a1. אמר רב ביבי --- Rav Bibi said --- and the fact that this uses amar and no one contradicts him implies to me that this is his gloss on the baraita quoted in 1a, and no one disagrees with him on this

As for the question of who is giving permission, I think it's The Halacha. I'd compare it, l'havdil, to moving muktzeh on Shabbat. In general you're not supposed to, but there are certain exceptions; once you've started to move it you may continue to carry it to wherever you want even after the condition that allowed you to start handling it has been discharged. So, for example, you're allowed to move stinky garbage if it's disturbing your oneg Shabbat, but once you've picked up the kitchen trash and taken it outside you're allowed to continue until you reach the driveway where your garbage can is.