Bava Metzia 31: Determining Ownership and Loss; Animal Suffering; Compound Verbs

The Gemara continues to explore the details of yesterday's Mishna.  We learned how to determine that donkeys and cows were in fact lost.  We also learned that people must return lost animals, even at a cost, but that the cost of their time should be reimbursed as if they were labourers working for the owner.

We read about small differences that one might face when determining whether or not property is lost.  What if something is leaning against a fence?  What if water is flowing into someone's field?*  What is the difference between finding an animal running and finding an animal grazing?  What is the difference between finding an animal in a vineyard or on a path?  What if a lost or wandering animal damages the land?  

The Gemara considers the verb hashev/teshivem which is used to teach us to return an animal to its owner.  That verb is turned around, inside and out, to prove that we are meant to return the animal any number of times.  The rabbis use this opportunity to look at other instances where verbs have been used creatively.  One of these is shell'ach/teshell'ach (Deuteronomy 23:6-7), where the mother bird might be dispatched from her nest numerous times while we take her young.  Another is hoche'ach/toche'ach (Leviticus 19:17) taken from the instruction to not hate our brother but to rebuke our neighbour, perhaps many times, and not take on his sin. 

The Gemara engages us in a disturbing conversation about helping an animal in distress.  We are commanded to unload an animal that has collapsed under its burden if the owner is not present.  However we are meant to reload the animal properly, so that the items are balanced.  Although we may interpret this mitzvah as evidence of an ancient appreciation to diminish the suffering of animals, it is a stretch to make that interpretation.  This conversation is about ownership and the loss of one's property.  Animal suffering is not a significant concern.  I know that societies are very different from each other, and it is almost impossible for me to see animals as beasts of burden rather than as exotic creatures.  

The remainder of the daf offers us additional examples of compound verb forms, including:

• mot yumat (Numbers 35:21)
• hake  take (Deuteronomy 13:16)
• hashev/tashiv (Deut 24:13)
• havol/tachbol (Exodus 22:25)
• patoach/tifach (Deut 15:11)
• naton/titten (Deut 15:9-10)
• haanek/tanik (Deut 15:14)
• haavet/tanitenu (Deut 15:8)

These verbs teach us what we must do and then what more we must do, in any case.

*In this case we learn that one is obligated to secure a barrier in an attempt to divert the water from flooding his neighbour's field.