Bava Metzia

— There is no difficulty: the latter dictum is meant when it [the field] is surrounded by a wall and a hedge;  the former, when it is not so surrounded. And the Lord shall take away from thee all sickness.  Said Rab: By this, the [evil] eye is meant.  This is in accordance with his opinion [expressed elsewhere]. For Rab went up to a cemetery, performed certain charms,  and then said: Ninety-nine [have died] through an evil eye, and one through natural causes. Samuel said: This refers to the wind. Samuel follows his views, for he said: All [illness] is caused by the wind. But according to Samuel, what of those executed by the State? — Those, too, but for the wind [which enters and plays upon the wound], an ointment could be compounded for them [which would cause the severed parts to grow together], and they would recover. R. Hanina said: This refers to the cold.  For R. Hanina said: Everything is from Heaven, excepting cold draughts, as it is written, Cold draughts are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.  R. Jose b. Hanina said: This refers to the excretions, for a Master said: The nasal and aural excretions are injurious when in great quantities, but beneficial in small. R. Eleazar said: This refers to [diseases of the] gall. It has been taught likewise: By mahala ['sickness',  illness caused by the] gall is meant; and why is it called 'mahala'? Because it sickens the whole human frame. Alternatively, because eighty-three illnesses are dependent upon the gall,  and all of them may be rendered nugatory by eating one's morning bread with salt and drinking a jugful of water. Our Rabbis taught: Thirteen things were said of the morning bread: It is an antidote against heat and cold, winds and demons; instils wisdom into the simple, causes one to triumph in a lawsuit,  enables one to study and teach the Torah, to have his words heeded, and retain scholarship;  he [who partakes thereof] does not perspire, lives with his wife and does not lust after other women; and it kills the worms in one's intestines. Some say, it also expels jealousy and induces love. Rabbah asked Raba b. Mari: Whence comes the proverbial expression, 'Sixty runners speed along, but cannot overtake him who breaks bread in the morning;' also the Rabbinical dictum, 'Arise early and eat — in summer, on account of the heat, in winter, on account of the cold'? — He replied: Because it is written, They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the cold nor sun smite them.  Thus, 'the cold or sun shall not smite them', because 'they shall not hunger nor thirst.' Said he to him: You deduce it from that verse; but I, from this: And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water:  'And ye shall serve the Lord your God' — this refers to the reading of the shema'  and prayer; 'and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water' — to bread and salt and a jug of water. Thenceforth: And I will take sickness away front the midst of thee. Rab Judah said to R. Adda the surveyor: Do not treat surveying lightly. because every bit [of ground] is fit for garden saffron.  Rab Judah [also] said to R. Adda the surveyor: The four cubits on the canal banks you may treat lightly, but those on the river banks do not measure at all.  Rab Judah is in harmony with his views, for Rab' Judah said: Four cubits on the banks of a canal belong to the estate owners it serves; but those on the banks of a river are common property. R. Ammi announced: Cut down [all vegetation] in the shoulderbreadth of bargees on both sides of the river.  R. Nathan b. Hoshia had sixteen cubits thus cut down. Thereupon the people of Mashrunia  came and smote him. He thought that it is as a public thoroughfare.  But that is incorrect; only there [for a public road] is so much necessary, but here it [the clear space] is required for hauling the ropes; therefore the full shoulderwidth of the bargees is enough. Rabbah son of R. Huna possessed a forest by the river bank. Being requested to make a clearing [by the water's edge], he replied, 'Let the owners above and below me first clear [their portion], and then I will cut down mine.' But how might he act so? Is it not written, Gather yourselves together, yea, gather:  which Resh Lakish translated, First adorn yourself, and then adorn others?  — In that Instance the [neighbouring] forests belonged to Parzak, the Field-marshal.  Therefore he [Rabbah] said: 'If they cut down [their forests], I will do so likewise; but if not, why should I? For if they can still haul their ropes,  they have room for walking;