Bava Batra

A Tanna taught: [If wine was sold as 'very old'], it must be capable of standing until the Feast of Tabernacles. MISHNAH. IF ONE SELLS A PLACE TO ANOTHER OR ACCEPTS ONE FROM ANOTHER FOR THE PURPOSE OF BUILDING ON IT A WEDDING HOUSE FOR HIS SON,  OR A WIDOW HOUSE FOR HIS DAUGHTER,  IT IS TO BE BUILT [IN THE DIMENSIONS OF NO LESS THAN] FOUR CUBITS BY SIX;  THESE ARE THE WORDS OF R. AKIBA. R. ISHMAEL SAID: THIS IS AN OX STALL!  HE WHO DESIRES TO ERECT AN OX STALL,  IS TO BUILD [IT IN THE DIMENSIONS OF NO LESS THAN] FOUR CUBITS BY SIX; A SMALL HOUSE, SIX BY EIGHT; A BIG [ONE]. EIGHT BY TEN; A HALL, TEN BY TEN. THE HEIGHT [OF ANY OF THESE, MUST BE] HALF ITS LENGTH AND HALF ITS WIDTH.  PROOF OF THIS? — RABBAN SIMEON B. GAMALIEL SAID: LIKE THE TEMPLE STRUCTURE. GEMARA. Why has it been stated, A WEDDING HOUSE FOR HIS SON OR A WIDOW HOUSE FOR HIS DAUGHTER, and not 'a wedding house for his son or daughter, or a widow house for his son or daughter'? — [By this the Mishnah] has taught us incidentally that it is not the [proper] way for a son-in-law to live at the house of his father-in-law; as it is written in Bensira, 'I have weighed all things in the scale of the balance and found nothing lighter than bran; lighter than bran is a son-in-law who lives in the house of his father-in-law; lighter than [such] a son-in-law is a guest [who] brings in [with him another] guest; and lighter than such a guest [is he who] replies before he hears [the question],  for it is written, He that giveth answer before he heareth, it is folly and confusion unto him.' R. ISHMAEL SAID: THIS IS AN OX STALL. HE WHO DESIRES TO ERECT etc. Who is the author of [the statement on] the OX STALL? — Some say the author is R. Ishmael, and some say R. Akiba is the author. Those who say R. Akiba is the author explain it thus, 'Although [the size] is [that of] an ox stall, one sometimes makes his dwelling [as small] as an ox stall'. And those who say R. Ishmael is the author, explain it thus, 'Because he who desires to erect an ox stall makes [it] four cubits by six.' A HALL, TEN BY TEN. What is the meaning of traklin?  — An arched hall adorned with roses. It was taught: A kinter [contains] twelve [cubits] by twelve. What is a kinter? — The fore-court  of mansions. THE HEIGHT … HALF ITS LENGTH AND HALF ITS WIDTH. PROOF OF THIS? — RABBAN SIMEON B. GAMALIEL SAID: LIKE THE TEMPLE STRUCTURE. Who taught, 'PROOF OF THIS…'? — Some say. R. Simeon b. Gamaliel taught it; and this is the purport of what has been said: Whence the PROOF OF THIS? — R. SIMEON B. GAMALIEL SAID: All [dimensions must be in proportion] LIKE [those of] THE TEMPLE STRUCTURE. And some say, the first Tanna has taught this, and R. Simeon b. Gamaliel is astonished [at it] and says to him [to the first Tanna] thus: Whence the proof? [Is it] from the Temple structure? Does everybody make [houses] LIKE THE TEMPLE STRUCTURE? It was taught: Others say [that] its height [must be] equal to [the length of] its beams.  Let it [then] be said [simply]. 'The height [must be] equal to its width'!  — If you wish, it can be said [that] a house is wider at the top;  and, if preferred, it can be said [the expression 'equal to the length of its beams' is necessary] because there are apertures [in the wall in which the beams are fixed]. R. Hanina [once] went out to the country, [and] a contradiction between [the following] verses was pointed out to him. It is written, And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits,  but it is [also] written, And before the Sanctuary which was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height  thereof!  He replied unto them: [The last mentioned verse] reckons from the edge of the Cherubim  upwards. What does [this kind of measurement]  teach us?