pesachim 10

a mouse, a house, a morsel of bread
but where is the mouse? what house? which mouse?

(the talmud is now reading a bit like a children's book as it discusses the various possibilities of mice taking chametz into a house that has already been searched, and if one is required to search it again. Exiting in the jaws of a bigger animal, the discussion
does not end well for the mouse)

pesachim 9

certainty and doubt..... doubt & certainty.......

it can be presumed that whatever lies at the bottom of the pit just isn't there.....

(this page discusses the mishna that one does not need to be concerned that a marten would drag chametz from house to house. <<but animals do drag their food away. in this rather disturbing case that is discussed with a shocking lack of emotion >> there is an understanding that the martens would eat a stillborn baby that was put in a pit... so if a priest came to inspect it, the priest wouldn't become impure..... because the baby just wasn't there..... but if the animals don't drag it away and eat it, the priest does become impure... then it was a corpse, and the baby did exist. and it is now dead....... and then......)

in my experience it's easier to leave it shrouded in doubt and uncertainty what really happened and what, if anything, is at the bottom of the pit.

pesachim 8

the birds and the things that sting make it dangerous/unnecessary to search inside the holes and outside in the open air

pesachim 7

a found coin in Jerusalem used to be considered non-sacred because they used to be meticulous in keeping the Jerusalem streets clean.
today..... so much sacred trash

pesachim 6

if the house included everything in the house.
then that includes the dust and forgotten crumbs

pesachim 5

looking and searching for chametz in the houses and in all the hidden places

pesachim 4

with the keys comes the responsibility to look and search

(discussing the situation of a rental property who is responsible to search for chametz, landlord or tenant. if rent on the morning of the 14th, presume it was searched the night before....)

pesachim 3

adding letters to refine the language
because it certain things are unmentionable.
but is it better to be refined rather than to the point?

(and ladies should always travel side-saddle unless she is afraid)

(following the debate about Or, Light, meaning Night, the talmud asks a simple question. well why didn't it just say "Night". and answers with a lengthy discussion about the virtues of refined speech, and not saying bad news)

pesachim 2

is Or - light - day or night?

God, who created the light, called the light "Yom" Day

should have the definitive word on the subject.

so what stubbornness is it to light a candle and go searching for a way to support that Or is night?

(the tractate Pesachim begins with the command to search for chammetz on the 14th with a candle. the mishna uses the word Or, and this page discusses if Or means day or night, going through various biblical verses)

I am trying to do each tractate in a different drawing medium, so each section will have it's own look. I found these sketchbooks with beautiful brown paper, and given the topic of the this page, the black & white, shadows & highlights, seemed fitting for Pesachim. 

goodbye eruvin....

Eruvin began with defining a doorway, looking to different doorways within the Mikdash, temple to determine the definitions of the archetype door. And Eruvin ends with who should enter different domains of the temple in order to remove sources of impurity.

entering and exiting the temple. and in-between the discussion in Eruvin has been involved with defining domains, boundaries, thresholds and structures. How to share  domains and resources with neighbours in order to live together in the world, starting and finishing with the Temple, the place where God dwells in the world.

So goodbye Eruvin. it's been interesting in parts, tedious in others, and very very repetitive.

there have been many times when I thought I needed to stop this crazy project. I fell behind a day or 2, and the quality varied hugely, some drawings were definitely better then others. There were interesting discussions about defining domains and boundaries, with fascinating insights into how people lived and formed neighbourhoods. But a lot of the discussions were tedious and repetitive... many was the time over the last couple of months I wondered why I was bothering doing this. But doing this strange activity of daf yomi, learning a page of Talmud a day, has become part of my daily routine. The debates and ideas from the day's page sit with me as I go through my day. and after Eruvin, I will never look at courtyards, alleyways, houses, etc in quite the same way. 

eruvin 105

it is not surprising considering the amount of blood that gets sloshed about that there were all sorts of bugs and creeping insects in the temple.

but who is holy enough to remove them? the hierarchy of purity to have the task of removing impurity.

eruvin 104

scattering salt on wet ramp to prevent the priests from slipping

melodious water drops making a pleasant sound, prohibited on shabbat

and the removal of creeping animal corpses from the temple

eruvin 103

broken fingers & removing warts

the limits of healing on shabbat
inside and outside of the temple

eruvin 102

discussion of bolts used inside the temple
and outside of the temple

leads to tents and hats,
hinges,
bandages,
and fixing broken strings of musical instruments played inside the temple

eruvin 101

what is a door?

the man of thorns stands guard at the edge, at the threshold, and protects. and sends the enemy to the gates of hell.

(this page discusses the definition of a door, when is a partition something that closes a gap in a wall, and when is it a door. hinges? appearance? distance from the floor? and does the door belong to the private or public domain, and how to use a key to go from these two domains without doing any prohibited carrying between domains.
one of the partitions that is discussed as a door is a bundle of thorns. this leads to interpreting the verse from Micah about a man of thorns being a protection and sending enemies to gehenna, hell)

eruvin 100

a tree, a woman, a promise to cover and protect with clothing
but it's a broken promise....
there will be blood and pain of childbirth... what type of child brings pain?

this page discusses: trees with branches that bend and touch the ground forming a space of shelter, not residence, beneath the tree
not climbing trees on shabbat
sprinkling of blood in the temple sacrifice
forcing a wife to have sex is forbidden, it will result in bad sons (and not a particularly happy wife.... )
but if women initiate, wise sons...
so. women making themselves sexually alluring (in a good way)
but
women having long hair like Lillith (in a not good way) & grass being tangled in shoes so probably best not walk on the grass on shabbat...
roosters mating ritual of displaying their feathers equivalent to a promise to clothe and cover but after sex admitting they do not have the means...
the pain and the blood
and the curses of Eve... cursed to be modest, to submit to the husband, and to be in pain.

and learning modesty from a cat....

(there's a lot going on on the page...)

eruvin 99

extending outside of a domain

eruvin 98

things that move from private to public
shouldn't touch the ground

no spitting or pissing....

but reading is ok

eruvin 97

carrying things with hebrew letters in them

knotted tefillin and wound up sacred scrolls

eruvin 96

woven blue fabric found in the street can't be used for tzitzit. it is tight, closed, not open for involvement.

but if someone has bothered to twist blue threads then they can be used for tzitzit.

and the women's hands who bother to twist tefillin around them, bind themselves to the mitzvot, lay their  hands on sacrifices and go to Jerusalem. those women, like the prophets wife and king's daughter, those women are not to be rebuked.

eruvin 95

under the bridge it is a different domain.

and moving tefillin and a baby

eruvin 94

what remains when walls break down.

using a cloak to maintain privacy

eruvin 93

 adding to the partition and to the people on shabbat

eruvin 92

when boundaries break
the small becomes part of the large
but the large is not part of the small.

(discussing when the wall between 2 courtyards, one large and one small is breached, the small one is now considered the entrance, or part of the larger space)

eruvin 91

it's a bit of a fiddle getting towels, oils, etc to bathe in the spring.

(if all the roofs, balconies, courtyards etc are one domain then can carry between them. R. Shimon and his students used this route to carry their stuff so they could bathe in the spring. and R Yehudah also described this route as how the torah was carried in times when public torah reading was a dangerous activity. in the top left of the drawing is a rolled up towel and oil bottles arranged to resemble a sefer torah. cleaning the body and soul)

eruvin 90

when is a roof like a boat?
and when is a boat like a roof?

comparing roofs and boats as places of residencies.

how far can you carry on a roof? the entire roof, or just within 4 cubits?

do the walls of the boat extend down to enclose the space?
or the partitions of the roof extend up to create a space?

eruvin 89

a single individual, R. Meir, argues that all roofs are linked as one domain

but the Rabbis come together and say that each is it's own separate domain

eruvin 88

absorbing matters on this page of talmud

the towel that the people of Tiberas are allowed to use on shabbat, absorbing the water, and not concerned about them wringing the water out.

and the ground that is large enough to absorb the waste water, even in winter months

eruvin 87

trying to define and enclose shifting moving water, so it can be gathered and used on shabbat.

eruvin 86

dog barking at the door is either saying
COME IN!
or
GO AWAY!
depending if it a male or female dog.

but for water there is no real barrier

(this page discusses if someone leaves their home on shabbat whether or not their absence affects the neighbours in the courtyard and if they are still needed to make the eruv. it is assumed that if they are visiting their daughter, they won't be returning. but if they are visiting their son, their daughter-in-law may not want them, and she will bark, so they will have to leave and return home during shabbat. the talmud quotes a saying "if a dog barks you can enter; if a female dog bark, leave"
Also on the page is a cistern that is shared between two courtyards, and devising a type of partition, while acknowledging that water intermingles and there is no real barrier)

eruvin 85

the rich and the poor

those who live in structures that aren't proper residencies (balconies etc) aren't a significant presence  to affect the courtyard's eruv.

and Rebbe makes room for the wealthy, if they are dressed appropriately.