Hello Everyone,
Over the past few months we have been studying the ninth chapter of masechet Bava Kama. The Gemarah analyzes, as I have mentioned more than once, the question known to philosophy students as “The Ship of Theseus.” How many changes can be made in an object until the ship loses its original identity . This question is not a mere mental exercise of the Sages. We have learned all sorts of cases in which a thief is permitted to keep a stolen object whose value had increased and make cash restitution to the victim of the theft. The thief may keep the stolen object when the stolen object had changed ( for example, a lamb grows up to be a sheep) because the object currently in the possession of the thief is no longer the object which was stolen.
The subject of change is one that fascinates me. So today, instead of studying a new suggyah in the Gemarah we will see how the Poskim rule in cases of change. I look forward to studying these rulings with you.