For the source text click/tap here: Bava Batra 168
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The Mishna on today’s daf describes a case where a borrower pays back part of a loan that he owes, and the lender hands the promissory note to a third party in order to assure the borrower that he will not try to collect the full loan with this note. What will happen if the borrower then tells the third party that if he does not pay off the rest of the loan by a specific date, then the note should be returned to the lender so that he can collect the full value? The Mishna relates that in the event that the loan is not paid in full, Rabbi Yosei rules that the third party should turn the note over to the lender; Rabbi Yehuda holds that he should not.
The Gemara explains that this difference of opinion is a question of whether asmakhta kanya or not.
We examine the asmachta and the halachic authority of the Rabbis.