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)

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Eruvin 79 – Trenches and Piles

There are more ways to divide a courtyard into two spaces – or to combine them – than a wall. For example, the Mishnah on the previous page describes a trench


IF A TRENCH BETWEEN TWO COURTYARDS WAS TEN HANDBREADTHS DEEP AND FOUR HANDBREADTHS WIDE, TWO ERUVS MAY BE PREPARED BUT NOT ONE, EVEN IF IT WAS FULL OF STUBBLE OR STRAW. IF, HOWEVER, IT WAS FULL OF EARTH OR GRAVEL, ONLY ONE ERUV MAY BE PREPARED, BUT NOT TWO.

The rabbis discuss this difference as having to do with intention – a trench filled with straw may be only a temporary holding place, so unless the owner declares the intention to keep it there (abandoned) it is not a valid filling. Earth, on the other hand, is considered abandoned in a trench and therefore the trench loses its ability to separate.


Then the Mishnah goes in the opposite direction: from depth to height:

IF A HEAP OF STRAW BETWEEN TWO COURTYARDS YARDS WAS TEN HANDBREADTHS HIGH, TWO ERUVS MAY BE PREPARED BUT NOT ONE. THE TENANTS OF THE ONE COURTYARD MAY FEED THEIR CATTLE AT THEIR SIDE AND THOSE OF THE OTHER COURTYARD MAY FEED THEIRS ON THE OTHER SIDE.

IF THE HEIGHT OF THE STRAW HEAP WAS REDUCED TO LESS THAN TEN HANDBREADTHS, ONE ERUVS MAY BE PREPARED BUT NOT TWO.

Straw here constitutes a valid separation, even if cattle are feeding from it. The rabbis make clear that one cannot pull the straw into a basket and feed to animals – the straw is mukzeh, something which cannot be handled, not because it is actually forbidden, but doing so may lead to a forbidden labor. But the animals can eat from it by themselves. If the eat so much on the Sabbath that the straw pile becomes lower than the required height, it no longer constitutes a division between the two courtyards.

No comments:

Post a Comment