Study Bava Metzia folio 58A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
the agents must take the oath of a bailee to the treasurers that they did not misappropriate the coins. If the collection of the chamber was not yet performed, the lost or stolen shekels remain the property of the residents of the city. Therefore, the agents take an oath to the residents of the city
Shmuel said: Here we are dealing with paid bailees, and the purpose of the oath is not to exempt them from their liability to pay for the theft. Rather, they take an oath that they performed their task properly, in order to collect their wages. The Talmud asks: If so, is this phrase accurate: The
The Talmud asks: But isn’t it taught in the Mishnah: And the coins were stolen or were lost en route, and paid bailees are liable to pay in cases of theft and loss? And here too, when safeguarding consecrated property, although paid bailees do not pay for the theft, as a paid bailee is exempt, let
Rabba said: When the tanna says that they were stolen, the reference is to a case where the item was stolen by armed bandits. When he said that they were lost, the reference is to a case where the agent’s ship sank at sea. Since the shekels left his possession through circumstances beyond his c
R' Yoḥanan said: In accordance with whose opinion is this Mishnah? It is in accordance with the opinion of R' Shimon, who says: Consecrated items for which one bears responsibility to replace them are subject to the halakhot of exploitation, and therefore one takes an oath concerning them.