Bava Kamma 62: Valuing Contents that are Known to Only One; Accidental Damages by Fire

Today's daf is not the end of Masechet Bava Kamma, but it marks the end of Koren's publication of the first 61 dapim of Bava Kamma.

Is a person responsible for items hidden within a stack that s/he sets on fire?  The rabbis consider the case of a woman who is told to safeguard a gold coin that is lost.  She is told that it is a silver dinar, and she likely knows no different because women often have such little access to money.  Is she liable for the cost of the gold coin?  Or is she liable for the loss of the silver dinar, for that is what she agreed to safeguard.  

The rabbis discuss what happens when a person has been robbed.   If his/her home has been robbed, the ruling is that the victim is believed regarding items lost within the home.  People generally bring all of their things into their homes, and thus it is reasonable to assume that one would have lost whatever s/he claims.  In some cases people must take oaths regarding items that they claim have been stolen.  But what happens if a person steals another's safe and dumps it into a river?  The rabbis tell of such a case.  If the victim had lost coins, there would be no issue - the coins and safe must be replaced.  But in this case the victim said that he lost a pearl, which is not replaceable, nor usual.

A final Mishna teaches us a number of halachot:

• a blacksmith is responsible for damages caused by the spark that flies from his hammer
• the owner of a camel who carries flax that enters a store and catches fire from the storekeeper's lantern is liable for damages caused when that fire is transferred via the burning flax to a building that burns down
• the shopkeeper is liable if he placed his lamp outside of the store but the same incident occurs
• Rabbi Yehuda says that the storekeeper is exempt if the lamp placed outside of the store is a Chanukah lamp, as it is a mitzvah to light a Chanukah lamp in a public space

The Gemara considers the usual heights of a Chanukah lamp.  They determine that a Chanukah lamp is best seen when it is placed over three cubits and under ten cubits from the ground.  Higher is alright, but anything over twenty cubits in the air does not fulfill the mitzvah for people cannot be counted upon to look that high in  the air.