Talking Talmud

Discussion of the tension regarding the establishment of eruv techumin - where measuring precisely can turn out to be to your disadvantage. Also, the case of a city on the bank of a river - what is needed to make the eruv when you have a steep drop, and why a partition of 4 amot becomes necessary. Indeed, the drop to the river is significant enough to need more than a symbolic demarcation. Also, t...

Establishing eruvin for smaller cities and towns - a story of one town (Kankunya) that seeks expertise in calling in someone who knows eruvin. And even so, the expert (Abaye in this case) needs to make sure that the eruv will hold up to the scrutiny of naysayers. I deed, he keeps second-guessing himself. For example, do the homes abutting the river need windows, or really not? Is Mehoza, another c...

Assess the terrain to determine techum Shabbat precisely - using a professional surveyor. If he makes a mistake, we correct the error to have the most expanded techum Shabbat - a lenient position. Note that even non-Jewish servants are eligible to testify as to the location of techum Shabbat. Also: A private city becomes a public city - you can establish an eruv for the entire town. But if a publi...

Measure the techum Shabbat with a rope that was 50 amot long, precisely, as held at the surveyor's heart. And if there's terrain "in the way," the surveyor holds the rope over the area that is not flat as if it's flat... as long as they don't leave the techum to do so, lest their trek mislead spectators. Alternatively, they could "pierce" the hills to draw a flat line, as it were. Note that the ro...

A new mishnah - on adding a karpef (the extra space of 70 amot), but when? Depending on the space between two cities, or between three, for that matter... Now, about these three villages, the ability to go far is apparent, but why they needed to is not. The three villages don't have to be in a line! But were you to slide them into position of a line, then you'd have this distance between them (the...

Cities that have ascents and descents within it take a toll on their residents. And: The rest of the day is as challenging as we've seen. That is, one way of measuring the location of your city's edges to determine the city limits is by using the constellations... And the daf addresses how to do so. Also: Adding the extra space to make the city shapes smooth is *a lot* of extra space. Note that th...

A final piece of aggadah before going back to the halakhic details of eruvin: the idea that the Torah is not in the heavens - it's right here for the taking, or, alternatively, it's not going to be accessible for one who is too haughty and refuses to approach Torah with humility. Moreover, don't rely on merchants and traders who may not have the time to study sufficiently. Back to halakhah: how do...

Back to the story of Beruriah. Note that she is in (brief) conversation with a Galilean, and she is presumably a Judean, which shifts the focus of the "women" discussion wholly. Besides which, she goes on to kick a student in the next line - if you were worried that she was promoting hypermodesty. Also, on the "248 limbs of the body." And if you don't feel well - in your head, your throat, your st...

How do you "me'abrin" - extend the city for the sake of its eruv? If you were to draw a straight line around your city, and the actual footprint is a bit more jagged, the idea is to smooth out that line, filling it in, as if it were square, with its added area as compared to a circle. But is "me'abrin" spelled with an aleph or an ayin? The meaning is different, the practical halakhic difference at...

A person who sets out of the place where he's establishing his eruv, and he's somehow detained or delayed, he can still continue to that place, but nobody else can rely on that eruv. This seems to be the diminishment of eruv techumin - meaning, all you need to do is set out on your way, and not even get there, to establish residence. And then just one step seems to be enough... Though this is more...

Rava and R. Yosef needed to set up an eruv, so Rava plans to set up a residence under a specific tree. R. Yosef doesn't know which tree, but Rava assures him that his familiarity is enough. And he credits R. Yosi as the tannaitic authority upon whom he relies for this. It's not clear, however, whether R. Yosi had anything to do with this view. Plus: The source for 2,000 amot for eruv techumin, and...

Rav's statement that one who tries to establish his residence under a tree, with an aim to 4,000 amot, hasn't said anything. Namely, the statement is too vague. And not actualizable. The language and the place's identity needed to be more clearly defined. Plus, the tree itself was massive, which makes the location all the more vague. "Underneath the tree" should be clear for a smaller tree, for ex...

The traits of Sodom. And other ways that eruvin may or may not take hold, but aren't really in the spirit of eruvin: one who doesn't allow others to eat from the eruv he has set aside. Or one who divides the content of the eruv. Both flout the essence of eruv, which is to bring people together, joining, sharing, into a unity. The Gemara also fleshes out why we need both of these cases. Also: Does...

Some inner workings of the beit midrash: Amoraim on tannaitic statements - a need to separate a residential area and a water-cooled ditch. And then R. Yosi bar R. Hanina laughed at the manner of separation... leaving the Gemara to figure out why he was laughing. Also: Among the discussion of how far one has to carry, the Gemara address the basis for "4 amot" - 3 amot for a person's space and an ex...

The halakhah discussion that is framed by the methodology question of rules of thumb of whose p'sak holds away. Cases pertain to women who were required to wait 3 months before getting married, lest she be pregnant from a previous marriage. This delay assures sure knowledge (presumably) of paternity. Also: One who buys from non-Jews, when in the Land of Israel, redeems all kinds of things. A kohen...

How did the Amoraim view the Tannaim, and the process of halakhic development? Transmission from the previous generations, or inference? The Halakhah is lenient when it comes to eruvin. And that has to be a specific uttered statement, not inference - because it's too easy to think that the opinion of the "many" would prevail against the opinion of the one (R. Yochanan ben Nuri) - but it doesn't. E...

Dedicated in memory of Chava bat Eliezer v’Sarah, Rabbanit Chava Schindler Oles on 5 Tishrei. || Who's Who: Rabban Gamliel the Elder. Regarding those whose activities legitimately take them out of techum Shabbat (emergency workers, protectors, and so on) can go home afterwards. One time, there was a melee with the enemies that they were trying to protect against... and they ended up killing more o...

Can you use living creatures as a partition? What if those creatures are human beings? Can a person become part of a wall of the sukkah? What if the person doesn't know about it? Shabbat and sukkah appear to be different in this regard. Plus: If a person set off to leave the techum, and it is allowed! - and along the way, he get word that he's not needed, where does he go now? Is he allowed to ret...

Does the concept of techum apply to a space that's over 10 tefachim? Again the overlap with eruv chatzerot, and so on. Seven teachings were taught twice, first in Sura, and then in Pompedita. How could that happen - at that distance? Eliyahu HaNavi! He could fly and bring the information. Alternatively, a demon. Pertaining to the vow of a Nazir. And the eruv and 10 tefachim. But can the messiah co...

THIS IS SUNDAY'S DAF. Eruv techumin vs. Eruv chatzerot - note that they're really different (which means that there's no carrying for the distance of eruv techumin). What if you don't know exactly how far the 2,000 amot of the techum takes you? What if your extended techum runs into a non-Jewish private domain? What if you need an eruv chatzerot to be able to carry where you're going? Plus: Anothe...

THIS EPISODE IS SATURDAY'S DAF. What happens when Tisha B'Av falls out on Friday (which cannot happen in the era of a fixed calendar)? Namely, nobody should enter Shabbat in a state of affliction. But how can one eat on a fast day?! Note also that we do not have public fast days on Rosh Chodesh or Chanukah or Purim, with exceptions that don't establish a fast on one of the happy days. And then som...

On R. Dosa's statement that the person who davens on behalf of the congregation should pray conditionally, depending on the true date. The sages had gathered and were deliberating whether to mention Rosh Chodesh in the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. They disagree, of course, but the dispute us over the conditional factor, not the Rosh Chodesh factor (R. Dosa always favored the conditional approach!). Plus...

The establishment of Rosh Chodesh, based on witness testimony, and the implications of that for Rosh Hashanah, which, by definition, falls out on Rosh Chodesh, as it were. The Gemara says, set up two eruvin as possible for each day that might be the day of the new moon, vs. the day that retroactively will have been determined to be a regular day. But the sages reject this approach of dividing the...

When yom tov is next to Shabbat... Making one eruv going to the west, and another one going to the east. From there, he follows the procedure for two days of eruv. When can he leave the eruv in the direction he's walking? And what if he ate the eruv on the first day? He won't have an eruv on the second day, because it's been eaten! Does that have implications for the holiness of the day? The signi...

Terminology/What's What: Bereirah. Can an eruv techumin kick in retroactively, as determined by whether it is used? This kind of planning and thinking ahead, with a verbal declaration that designates a change at another time may be uniquely human, certainly far-ranging. Plus: A complete reversal of the sages' opinions, apparently after the fact - a "Fokh." A fluidity in the text itself that is no...