Study Bava Batra folio 60B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Go now, and come tomorrow. At night, R' Yannai sent and had someone cut down that tree that belonged to him.
The next day, that man came before R' Yannai, who said to him: Go, cut down your tree. The man said to him: But the Master also has a tree that leans into the public domain. R' Yannai said to him: Go and see: If mine is cut down, then cut yours down. If mine is not cut down, you do not have to cut
The Talmud asks: At the outset what did R' Yannai hold, and ultimately, what did he hold? The Talmud replies: At the outset, he held that the general public is amenable to having the tree there, as they sit in its shade. Once he saw that they were preventing someone else who owned a tree from keepi
§ The Mishnah teaches that one may not extend projections or balconies into the public domain. Rather, if he desired to build one he may draw back into his property by moving his wall, and extend the projection to the end of his property line. A dilemma was raised before the rabbis: If one drew back
The Talmud presents an alternative version of the dispute: R' Ya’akov said to R' Yirmeya bar Taḥlifa: I will explain the matter to you. To later extend a projection, everyone agrees that he may extend it, since he is adding within his own property. Where they disagree is with regard to whether he ma