Amud (a) focuses on questions related to a botched sale. For example, when a customer gives a dyer fabric and the dyer decides to do extra work on the fabric without permission. Must the customer pay for these changes, as the item has been enhanced? Or should the dyer owe the customer the fabric that was brought in to dye? Similarly, we are told of the example of one who only pays some of what is owed for a field. Does the seller offer the buyer only some of the land; perhaps the low quality land? Or does the buyer renege on the deal and give all of the money back?
The rabbis debate about who does have power in these situations - the person doing the changes - and who should have power in these situations. They say that they are discussing "who is at a disadvantage". They also discuss whether we have received instructions from the Mishna which suggest sequential actions or congruous actions.
A new Mishna begins to specify some of the the terms of our last Mishna. Rabbi Yishmael says that we should not engage in business with Gentiles for the three days before and the three days after their festivals. The rabbis disagree; we are only to avoid business with Gentiles for the three days before the festival.
Does it matter if the business provides no benefits to us? Does it matter if we are living in or outside of the diaspora? Nachume the Mede suggests that we are permitted to sell horses of any sex to Gentiles both before Christian festivals, even the sabbath, and to sell horses on any day in times of war. This is because Gentiles do not use horses in war, and riding horses is not forbidden on Shabbat.
Today's Gemara ends with the rabbis exploring other words of Nachum the Mede and Rabbi Acha bar Minyumi. We learn that prayer for oneself should follow other prayer and that meditation is key; "Isaac went out to meditate in the fields" (Genesis 24:63). The rabbis discuss sichi and whether it refers to prayer, meditation, or something unique that we pour out to G-d.
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