Eruvin 104b

עירובין ק״ד ע״ב

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Topic

The באר הקר, and a dead שרץ found in the מקדש: how and from where to remove it, and whether bringing a שרץ into the מקדש is חייב.

Overview

This amud opens by finishing a story from the previous amud. A Sage allowed a water-wheel to be used, but forbade it once he saw people soaking flax in the water. The גמרא then asks what the באר הקר in the משנה is. שמואל's explanation, 'a well they argued about and permitted', is rejected because a ברייתא speaks of many such wells. רב נחמן בר יצחק explains instead that it is a well of fresh spring water, and the full ברייתא adds that the permission came from an old custom of their fathers. A new משנה follows about a dead שרץ found in the מקדש on שבת. It records two disputes: how to remove the שרץ (belt or wooden tongs) and from which areas it must be removed (only the inner areas, or the whole עזרה). It closes with רבי שמעון's rule that such leniencies only override a שבות. In the גמרא, שמואל rules that bringing the שרץ itself into the מקדש is פטור, based on the פסוק 'מזכר ועד נקבה תשלחו'. The גמרא then tests whether the תנאים of the משנה disagree about this question, first with the belt-versus-tongs dispute and then with the dispute about which areas the שרץ must be removed from.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. ConclusionThe flax-soaking ending of the wheel story
2. QuestionWhat is the באר הקר?
3. Responseשמואל: a well that was argued about and permitted
4. ChallengeA ברייתא speaks of many בורות הקרות
5. Resolutionרב נחמן בר יצחק: a well of fresh spring water
6. StatementThe full ברייתא about the one permitted well
7. RejectionIt was really an old family custom
8. StatementNew משנה: a כהן removes a dead שרץ with his belt
9. Statementרבי יהודה: use wooden tongs instead
10. QuestionWhich areas must it be removed from?
11. Responseרבי שמעון בן ננס: only the holiest inner areas
12. Statementרבי עקיבא: anywhere entering while טמא carries כרת
13. Statementרבי שמעון: The Sages only permitted rabbinic prohibitions
14. Statementשמואל: Bringing in something defiled by a שרץ is liable, the שרץ itself is exempt
15. QuestionWhat is the reason for שמואל's distinction?
16. ResponseThe verse applies only to what can be purified in a מקוה
17. ProofAttempted support from רבי יוסי הגלילי excluding an earthenware vessel
18. RejectionRejection: the reason may be that an earthenware vessel never becomes an אב הטומאה
19. ProofProposing a תנאים dispute: belt or wooden tongs
20. ProofLinking each opinion to חייב or פטור
21. RejectionBoth agree it is חייב; they weigh delay against adding טומאה
22. ProofTrying a different pair of תנאים in the same משנה
23. ProofLinking the removal-area dispute to חייב or פטור