For the source text click/tap here: Bava Metzia 12
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While the previous two Mishnayot dealt with how a person can claim an object by taking possession of it himself or by having his field take possession on his behalf, the Mishna on our daf discusses how a person can come to own something through the efforts of family members.
According to the Mishna, if an ownerless object is picked up by someone’s underage children, his non-Jewish slaves or his wife, it belongs to him. If, however, the children were adults, the slaves were Jewish or if he and his wife were in the midst of divorce proceedings, then the object would belong to the finder.
In the talmudic discussion Rav Adda bar Mattana said to Abaye: But how is it permitted for one to allow his son to follow him in the field, thereby causing all the poor people to leave? Is a person permitted to have a lion crouch in his field so that the poor people will see it and flee?
Which brought to mind Rembrandt’s Lion and his relationship with and influence on the Jews of Amsterdam and later Jewish painters which we explore.