Study Bava Kamma folio 97A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
And did Rav actually say that the legal status of a Canaanite slave is like that of real estate? But doesn’t Rav Daniel bar Rav Ketina say that Rav says: One who seizes another’s Canaanite slave and performs labor with him is exempt from paying the master for the labor of the slave? And if it enters
The Talmud answers: With what are we dealing here? We are dealing with a case where the one who seized the slave forced him to perform labor when it was not during regular working hours. Consequently, he did not prevent the slave from performing labor for his master. Since the owner did not incur
The Talmud rejects this comparison: How can these cases be compared? Granted, there, in the case of a courtyard, whether the reasoning for that halakha is according to the one who says: An inhabited house remains habitable, and it is therefore satisfactory for the owner of the property to have som
But here, in the case of a slave, is it satisfactory for him that his slave be weakened by performing labor for another? The rabbis say: Indeed, it is satisfactory for him that the work habits of his slave not be undone.
The Talmud records a related incident. Members of the house of Rav Yosef bar Ḥama would, with his approval, seize the slaves of people who owed him money, and they would work them against the will of the owners. Rabba, son of Rav Yosef bar Ḥama, said to him: What is the reason that the Master does