What is Talmud Tweets?

What is Talmud Tweets? A short, personal take on a page of Talmud - every day!

For several years now, I have been following the tradition of "Daf Yomi" - reading a set page of Talmud daily. With the start of a new 7 1/2 year cycle, I thought I would share a taste of what the Talmud offers, with a bit of personal commentary included. The idea is not to give a scholarly explanation. Rather, it is for those new to Talmud to give a little taste - a tweet, as it were - of the richness of this text and dialogue it contains. The Talmud is a window into a style of thinking as well as the world as it changed over the centuries of its compilation.

These are not literal "tweets" - I don't limit myself to 140 characters. Rather, these are intended to be short, quick takes - focusing in on one part of a much richer discussion. Hopefully, I will pique your interest. As Hillel says: "Go and study it!" (Shabbat 31a)

Monday, May 20, 2013

Eruvin 73 – Big Love



“Family” definition of private space is brought up in the Mishnah

BROTHERS WHO WERE EATING AT THEIR FATHER'S TABLE BUT SLEPT IN THEIR OWN HOUSES MUST EACH CONTRIBUTE A SHARE TO THE ‘ERUB

The overall question is: does the definition of a private domain come from where one sleeps or where one eats? This is seen in a courtyard shared by several people who all are maintained by the same person:

Our Rabbis taught: Where a man has five wives who are in receipt of a maintenance allowance from their husband or five slaves who are in receipt of a maintenance allowance from their Master, R. Judah b. Bathyra permits [unrestricted movement] in the case of the wives but forbids it in the case of the slaves, while R. Judah b. Baba permits this in the case of slaves but forbids it in the case of the wives.
Said Rab, what is R. Judah b. Baba's reason? The fact that it is written in Scripture: But Daniel was in the gate of the king. (Dan. 2:49)

That is, wherever the kings servant went he was still “in the gate of the king”, that is – the king’s house.

The question of measuring Shabbat distance comes up for laborers who take their meals in the city but sleep in the fields, or students who eat in the country but sleep in the schoolhouse. They would, it was concluded, “much prefer” to have taken their meals where they slept (schoolhouse or field).

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