Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 3, scan section 87

the court caved in. Said Samuel to the other inmates of the court: " Take a garment and hang it up in place of the wall." Rabh turned away his face from Samuel. Said Samuel: "If Abba (Rabh) is angry let him take his girdle and fasten the gar- ment with it to the wall." If according to Samuel it is allowed to carry as far as the ruins of the wall, why did he order that a garment should be fastened as a partition ? Samuel did not order this to be done in order to make a partition but merely to prevent outsiders from peering into the court. And Rabh ! if he holds that it is not allowed to carry he should have said so ? It was Samuel's domain, and he could not contradict him at that time. Why then did he turn away his face ? (Surely he is not responsible for Samuel's actions.) In order to show that he did not agree with Samuel's opinion but still adhered to his Oivn. MISHNA: If a court (through an incavation of its walls) is laid open to public ground, whosoever brings anything' from private ground into such a court, or from the court into private ground, is culpable. Such is the dictum of R. Eliezer. The sages hold, however: Whoever brings anything from the court into public ground, or from public ground into the court, is 224 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. absolved ; since the court (through the incavation of its walls and consequent opening) has become like unclaimed ground. GEMARA: Does R. Eliezer hold, that if a court by reason of the incavation of its walls is laid open to public ground, it becomes public ground? Yea! He holds to his theory as expressed elsewhere (Baba Bathra), that if the public had taken a certain path through a meadow (although there was no path) and used it constantly, it remains a path (and the same is the case with this court; if it was laid open into public ground it becomes the same as public ground). This is not so ! Did not R. Giddel say in the name of Rabh, that R. Eliezer (in the pas- sage quoted) referred to a case where the original path had been lost and could not be found, and if we would assume that in the case of the court he holds, that only the space which had been lost to the public, i.e., where it is not apparent that the wall had been standing, becomes as public ground, but the whole court is certainly not to be considered such ; did not R. Hanina say, that the sages and R. Eliezer differ as to the entire space up to where the wall was standing ? Hence we must say, that R. Eliezer holds the entire court to have become as public ground ! The statement of R. Hanina should be modified to the effect, that they differ only as to the space that had been occupied by the wall and not up to the wall ; thus R. Eliezer does not consider the entire court as public ground. If you wish, I may say, that (the place where the wall stood is still apparent, and) the sages differ with R. Eliezer merely as to the adjoining places to public ground. R. Eliezer holds them to be the same as public ground, while the sages say that, as there had at one time been a court there, it is now not public ground. MISHNA: In a court (the corner walls of which had fallen in on Sabbath so) that (it) has been laid open to public ground on two sides; also in a house (which by a similar accident) was laid open on two sides; or in an entry the cross and side beam of which had been removed, it is permitted to carry things on that same Sabbath ; but it is not permitted to do so on the suc- ceeding Sabbaths. Such is the dictum of R. Jehudah ; but R. Jose said: If it were permitted for that particular Sabbath, it would also be permitted for the future; but since it is prohibited for the future, it is also prohibited on that same Sabbath. GEMARA: How is the case with the walls treated of in the Mishna ? If the breach caused by the incavation does not exceed ten ells, (it is regarded as a door) so what difference docs TRACT ERUBIN. 225 it make upon how many sides the court has been laid open ? If the breach, however, exceeded ten ells, then it would be the same even if one side only were laid open. Said Rabh : The breach does not exceed ten ells but in a corner it is not custom- ary to make a door. "A house which was laid open on both sides,'' etc. How would it be if the house were laid open only on one side ? We would say, that the edge of the roof is supposed to reach down to the bottom and thus serve as a substitute for the wall by application of the law of " Gud Achith." Cannot the same rule apply to two sides of a house ? Let the edge of the roof on both sides be supposed to reach down to the bottom ? Said the disciples of Rabh in the name of their master: " The Mishna refers to a house where the corner walls had fallen in and where the roof was not flat but slanting, so that with the walls it also fell." Samuel said: " In the case of a court the Mishna does refer to an instance where the breach exceeded ten ells, but it also states that the walls had caved in on both sides because further, when treating of a house, it must specify two sides, hence it does so also when courts are in question." Why must two sides be mentioned in the instance of a house ? Cannot the edge of the roof be supposed to reach down to the bottom of both walls ? Then again does Samuel hold to the supposition, that the edge of the roof reaches to the bottom of the wall ? Was it not taught that concerning a gallery in a valley, Rabh said, it is permitted to carry throughout the whole extent of the valley, because the edges of the gallery are supposed to reach down to the ground and thus form a partition for the entire val- ley, whereas Samuel maintained that this supposition cannot be considered and hence it is only permitted to carry for a distance of four ells ? This would not present a difficulty, for in that case Samuel maintains, that the edges of the gallery must not be supposed to reach down to the ground because there must be four distinct partitions, but where only three are necessary he would admit the feasibility of such a supposition. The difficulty concerning the two sides of the house where the breach measured over ten ells still remains! In the same manner as the disciples of Rabh referred to a house where the corner walls had fallen in together with their slanting roof, Samuel may refer to a house, the corner walls of which had sustained a breach four ells in width on each corner, or eight ells in all, and five ells in length VOL. III. — 15 226 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. on one side, and five ells and a trifle on the other side, or slightly over ten ells in all. Hence it would be necessary to sup- pose that the edges of the roof reach down on four sides of the breach two in width and two in length and that would be con-