Our daf is in two very distinct parts. Amud (a) continues the rabbis' conversations about the horrors of war caused by seemingly innocuous issues. Amud (b) returns to the rabbi's questions about what to do when a Sicarius has taken a person's property.
Amud (a) shares violent, horrible details of war and captivity. The rabbis describe measuring the amount of children's brains found upon one rock; abuse, rape and the burning of children wrapped in Torah scrolls. They even tell of children who are forced to witness sexual intercourse (to encourage the conceived child to be as beautiful as the Jewish children chained to the foot of the bed). The Jewish people are described as simultaneously clever, pious, learned; victimized, tortured, and fearful. This juxtapositioning of the strength and the vulnerability of Jews continues to live on.
Amud (b) shares some of the questions and the halacha that address land ownership and the transfer of property from one party to another. Questions include the order in which a Sicarius takes land and the rights of wives versus husbands. Again, the details of this particular conversation is still a challenge for me.
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