The Weekly Daf #42
Bava Basra 37-43
Week of 19-25 Kislev 5755 / 22-28 November 1994
By Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Dean, Ohr Somayach Institutions  
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                       Your Friend's Friend's Friend

Someone who is seen exercising possession of another person's field for 
three years and no protest is made by the original owner is believed to 
claim that he purchased the field and lost the bill of sale.  If a protest 
was made he will not be able to make such a claim.  This is true, rules the 
Sage Rav, even in a case where the original owner is a fugitive and there 
is a likelihood that he may never have heard of his field being taken over.  
Conversely, if the original owner registered a protest with two witnesses 
within this three year period, the possessor's claim is invalidated even if 
these witnesses were traveling to a destination far removed from the locale 
of the original owner and it is virtually impossible that they will 
personally relay the protest to him.

The logic covering both cases is based on the maxim that "Your friend has a 
friend and your friend's friend has a friend."  We therefore assume that 
anything known to two witnesses, whether it is possession or protest, will 
inevitably reach the party affected by this information.

                                                             Bava Basra 38b

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                        When Even the Rich are Poor

This is the logic offered for explaining why a person pledging a gift of 
money to the poor people in his city may be referring to funds for a Sefer 
Torah which will benefit even the people of means.

A Sefer Torah, Rashbam explains, is a necessity for every Jew and it is 
customary for someone to refer to his fellow townsmen as poor if they lack 
a Sefer Torah for that is indeed abject poverty.

                                                             Bava Basra 43a
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