Bava Batra 107: Assessing and Buying Land

The rabbis discuss what should be done if a creditor approaches two brothers who have inherited their father's land.  Is it halachically sound for the creditor to take one of the son's portions in its entirety without touching the other brother's portion?  To rectify this, one option is to consider the original division of property void.  The brothers would then split the remaining portion as that is their true inheritance.  Another option is to consider the brothers as inheritors with guarantees.  In this case, the brother without a portion would take half of the remaining portion but one quarter would be in land and the other quarter would be in money.

The rabbis move on to discuss what should be done if land is assessed differently by different assessors.  If two assessors say that the land is worth 100 dinars and one says that the land is worth 200 dinars, do we give weight to the assessment of the two who agree?  Do we split the difference?  What if all assessors are exaggerating or simply misjudging the value of the land?  How are discrepancies in assessment settled?  Does it matter if different measures are used (selas or dinars, for example)?  What about if neither measure goes over 100 dinars?  The last thing we learn is that the rabbis do not understand the reasoning Amorim in the diaspora, but they may choose to use that method of division.  If so, the difference between the extreme assessments is calculated and then split into thirds.  One of those thirds is added on to half of the value of the portion of property.

We learn from a new Mishna: if one sells half of his field without designating which field, an assessor decides on how to divide the field.  If one sells the southern half of his field, an assessor judges the land on the north and south of the field and the buyer takes the southern half, losing some land to build a fence between the two halves of the field.  He also agrees to lose the space for the larger (six handbreadths) and smaller (three handbreadths) ditches built to deter animals.

The Gemara tells us that Chiyya bar Abba tells Rabbi Yochanan that the buyer should take the poorer quality land.  Why else assess the land at all?  Rabbi Yochanan responds with an insult: Have you been eating dates and neglecting your studies in Bavel?  We explained this according to the latter clause.  That is, the assessment is done to determine the value of the southern and northern portions of the land.  If there is inequity, then the seller reimburses the buyer with money when the southern part of the land is acquired.