246. This is how Rav Hamnuna Saba said: Three gates of justice were composed in the orders of the Mishnah. The first one is: "The four primary causes of injury are the ox etc.," WHICH IS BABA KAMA (FIRST GATE). The second gate is A garment that was found, WHICH IS BABA METZIA (THE MIDDLE GATE). The third gate is partnerships and the meaning of a lost object, WHICH IS BABA BATRA (THE LAST GATE). What is the reason? HE RESPONDS: It is only that the Holy One, blessed be He, always accounts Yisrael's premeditated sins as errors. Those who set up the orders of the Mishnah, set it up this way in three gates OF BABA KAMA, BABA METZIA, BABA BATRA, followed the manner of the scriptures: "Manner of trespass" (Shemot 22:8). That refers to an offense that is not intentional, SINCE THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, ACCOUNTS THE INTENTIONAL CRIME AS ERRORS. What is it, "whether it be for ox, for donkey, for sheep" (Ibid.), that is the Baba Kama, where it DISCUSSES these matters. "For a garment" is Baba Metzia THAT DISCUSSES A GARMENT THAT WAS FOUND; "or for any manner of lost thing" refers to the third gate, NAMELY IS BABA BATRA.

385. While traveling, Rabbi Aba said, We have already learned that, due to eleven causes, plagues come about to people. They are due to idol worship, cursing the Holy Name, incest, theft, the evil tongue, bearing false testimony, a judge who is crooked in a trial, swearing falsely, one who encroaches on his friend's boundary rights, one who contemplates evil thoughts and ideas, and one who instigates quarrels between brothers. Some say also due to the evil eye, and we were taught all this in the Mishnah.