Bava Metzia - Daf 28
- עד מתי חייב להכריז
The next Mishnah states: ועד מתי חייב להכריז – Until when is one obligated to announce a lost item? Rebbe Meir says: עד כדי שידעו בו שכניו – until the neighbors know about it, which the Gemara explains to mean the area in which the item was found. Rebbe Yehudah says it is announced for three רגלים, and then seven days after the third רגל, כדי שילך לביתו שלשה ויחזור שלשה ויכריז יום אחד – so that the owner] has three days to go home and check his possessions, three days to return, and one day to announce his lost item and its simanim. The Gemara asks that the three days allowed by Rebbe Yehudah contradict a Mishnah, in which Rabban Gamliel says we do not begin to pray for rain until the seventh of Marcheshvan, fifteen days after Succos, to allow people to return home to the Euphrates River (the furthest border of Eretz Yisroel)!? Abaye answers that Rabban Gamliel is discussing the second Beis Hamikdash era. Because there were fewer people, there were no caravans traveling day and night, so the journey took longer. Rava answered there was no difference between time periods: לא הטריחו רבנן באבדה יותר מדאי – the Rabbis did not overburden people with a lost item.
- אבידה מכריז or גלימא מכריז
Amoraim discuss how a lost item is announced. Rav Yehudah says: אבידתא מכריז – he merely announces he found a lost item, without specifying that it is a garment (for example), because חיישינן לרמאי – we are concerned about a dishonest person who may know the simanim of the owner’s garment and may unlawfully claim it. Rav Nachman says: גלימא מכריז – he announces he found a garment, and we are not concerned about a dishonest person, דאם כן אין לדבר סוף – because if so, there is no end to such concerns (i.e., announcing “a lost item” would not solve the issue). Rav Nachman was challenged from our Mishnah, which states: אמר את האבידה ולא אמר סימניה – If [the claimant] named the lost item but did not provide its simanim, לא יתן לו – [the finder] should not give it to him. According to Rav Yehudah, this means that although he correctly identified the lost item, it is not returned to him without naming simanim. But according to Rav Nachman, that the finder names the lost item, why would one think it is returned to one who does not even give simanim?! The Gemara answers that the Mishnah means he gave basic simanim (such as color), but not distinctive ones.
- Lost animals which incur a cost to maintain
The next Mishnah states: כל דבר שעושה ואוכל – Any [lost animal] that works and eats, such as an ox, יעשה ויאכל – should work and eat from what it produces, and not be sold. ודבר שאין עושה ואוכל – But something that does not work but eats, such as a rooster, ימכר – should be sold, and the proceeds are returned to the owner, because the passuk says: "והשבותו לו" – and return it to him, teaching: ראה היאך תשיבנו לו – see how you will return it to him, that its cost will not exceed its value. A Baraisa adds: שלא יאכיל עגל לעגלים – so that one should not feed the value of a calf to calves, etc. Shmuel says that even an animal which produces may be sold after twelve months, which is supported by a Baraisa. Two Baraisos list the amounts of time various animals are kept before being sold, and the Gemara addresses contradictions between the two.
