eruvin 84

who can hit the target?

Shmuel: easier to lower than to throw so the balcony team can make use of the top of the cistern in the courtyard
but Rav says: neither can use it

eruvin 83

counting and measuring with eggs.

but eggs are not all the same size and weight.

and the number of eggs depends on where the eggs are from, or how back in time you go

eruvin 82

They were sitting opposite from me on the tube. It looked like a half-term shopping trip for teenage daughter and mum. She closed her eyes and fitted herself around her mother's body and held on. Every so often she took a sip from her mother's water bottle. Neither said a word to each other the whole journey. Just tenderly travelling together.

and yet the Sages asked "who is the child who does not need their mother? what age? 4 or 5, or 6....?"

but there seems to be no age limit. No tachum.

(this page discusses that a child is included in their mother's eruv and shabbat boundaries up until they no longer need their mother. The shabbat boundary called the tachum, and is the limit one is permitted to walk on shabbat)

eruvin 81

bread can connect two domains (even if one side isn't looking)
as money can't buy everything

eruvin 80

secretly making an eruv without telling everyone involved. including husbands and neighbours. they don't know what's good for them

eruvin 79

when a haystack or ditch stops being a partition that separates two domains

when the animals eat it and reduce the size,
when filled with stones
when covered by a plank of wood

eruvin 78

tree as ladders
and ladders as openings

just not the trees that have been worshipped

eruvin 77

making a wall accessible to both sides, not just the one that is most convenient.

eruvin 76

does a window make 2 spaces into 1? depends on size

and the size of a round window

depends on the size of a square window

and how you fit a square into a circle
or
a circle into a square

eruvin 75

inner and outer courtyards
houses and gatehouses

when the residents of one rely on the domain of the other for access.

eruvin 74

if where you sleep determines your residency, then a lot of people live in shul.

and

jew & gentile sharing an alleyway

eruvin 72

partitions aren't walls that make separate domains until they reach the ceiling
and brothers who still eat at their father's table aren't considered separate. even though they have their own houses in the courtyard.

(apologies for the picture quality - draw yomi over these couple of days is coming from Venice. a good place to think about courtyards, alleyways and residencies)

eruvin 71

can't use wine and oil to merge with 2 different households to make one eruv.
they don't mix

eruvin 70

according to R. Nachman the heir of the deceased like his foot and takes possession of the property immediately, even on shabbat, and therefore affects the residents eruv arrangements.

eruvin 69

if one is blatant about not keeping shabbat then one is separate and cannot play the eruv game.

but if one is private about not keeping shabbat then one can join in, renounce one's rights to a domain, and allow others to form an eruv.

eruvin 68

when the warm water for the circumcision is spilt, Rava offers to throw out his possessions to help.

(in order to bring warm water from Rava's neighbouring courtyard, Rava removes his property from his space, renounces his rights in the domain and water can then be carried between the spaces. as no eruv was made before shabbat)

eruvin 67

trembling and shaking
2 meet and act as if they themselves have nothing.

(R. Hisda and R.Sheshet are both described as being intimidated by the other's intellect to the point it makes them shake. also on the page is the idea that one can renounce one's rights of ownership in a domain in order to allow others to carry)

eruvin 66

courtyards that connect and separate

one resident's forgetting can affect another courtyard's ability to mix

eruvin 65

drinking wine releases secrets, and brings comfort to the lost ones. there is no need to pray.

so when the harsh south winds blow, put away the books and head for the pub.

(this page begins discussing that being drunk exempts one from prayer. and then goes on to describe that one cannot pray if distressed, angry or distracted - later in the page it says that one shouldn't pray for 3 days after a journey. This is compared to the day-time clarity of mind that is needed for torah study and halachic ruling and the distraction that can hamper learning. the discussion then goes back to wine, saying that it releases secrets and was created to comfort the mourner. The page returns to discussing various situations where jews and gentiles live together and the arrangements for an eruv, but then brings it all together by bringing a couple of stories about travelling rabbis staying in a pub. coming back to wine)

eruvin 64

does a glass of wine improve the mind or should one try to walk it off

eruvin 63

 the fatal consequences of ruling when one's elders are around to inspect.

eruvin 62

using decrees about the eruv to discourage living amongst gentiles, and portraying them as murderous, mean with money and suspicious of witchcraft.

sound familiar?

eruvin 61

shabbat, conflict and eruv

neighbours that don't want to mix and therefore no eruv

and cities that are dangerous to enter if you are from the wrong neighbourhood. especially on a boozy shabbat.

(on this page is discussed two cities. one up a hill and the other down the hill. the residents from up the hill are prevented from entering the higher city on shabbat as that city has a violent reputation and it is to protect them. shabbat is considered especially dangerous due to the amount of wine drunk. the residents from the higher city are not prevented from entering the lower city on shabbat as they would not be so aggressive in another place. also on this page is the mishnah that describes a situation where a resident in an alley does not want to mix and make an eruv)

eruvin 60

sometimes only a prophet can see how to make an eruv in a city

eruvin 59

cities change as people move away

and ladders can be an entrance to another domain.

(this page discuss the mishna about when a private small city becomes a public city, and a public city becomes private as populations migrate. also discussed is if a ladder can be considered an entrance linking different domains of a city. Yesterday I saw some beautiful photographs exhibited at the Lower East Side Conservation Centre, NY, by Marisa Scheinfeld. They are beautiful studies of the ruins and decay that have taken over the Borscht Belt's old holiday resorts. Plants reclaiming the concrete. secret garden)

eruvin 38

some ropes are used to bind and restrict. to hold down the red heifer, to hold up the sotah's clothing.

and some ropes are used to measure, to allow freedom of movement.

(measuring the shabbat boundary should be done with a 50 cubit rope made of plant material. not iron chains, even though they would not stretch. other ropes are mentioned, each with their own uses. some ropes used to tie down and restrict, but the shabbat boundary is there is allow for movement and therefore there is room for leniency)

eruvin 37

large towns play with the geometry of circles and squares.

but small villages combine to form triangles.

eruvin 56

dangerous vegetables and dangerous cities.
and the cities one flees to when in danger.

(it is harmful to one's health to live in a city with a lot of stairs and steep inclines. or one without vegetables. but certain vegetables are considered harmful. also on this page is a discussion about the route of the sun in the sky at different seasons to determine north. and determining the boundaries of the city by following the model of the Levite cities, the cities of refuge, of squaring the circle)

shabbat shalom from NY. I will be speaking at Lincoln Square Synagogue this shabbat, see here for details.

eruvin 55

unusual shaped cities and places of residency.

but for the hut-dwellers there is a concern about the privacy of when the women immerse (from the man who sits outside mikvehs)

eruvin 54

Torah learning should be an out loud bodily experience.

to enter the body

to cure the body

to sustain the body

and then ultimately take over the body. distracting the mind away from the body's needs.

(story of R. Elazar b Pedat who would be so distracted in this learning that he would leave his cloak in different places)

apologies for the image quality. I am in NY so these drawings are photographed rather than scanned.

eruvin 53

defining a city like a person with limbs

and defining people and their ability to use language by the cities they are from.

vague words like the misty hills of the Gallilee. or solid precise terminology like the grounded cities of Judah.