Gemara Clarity

Eruvin 24a

עירובין כ״ד ע״א

Learn Eruvin 24a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Eruvin 24a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

When a large קרפף counts as enclosed for living: sown or planted areas, rebuilding the wall, doorways, and flooding

Overview

This amud opens at the end of a challenge about a large קרפף whose majority was sown with seeds. The small unsown part is בטל to the sown majority, so the whole area becomes a forbidden קרפף larger than בית סאתים. The גמרא therefore restates the ruling: a sown minority is permitted. רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע limits this by size, and his limit comes in two versions. One version matches the רבנן and the other matches רבי שמעון. Next, אבימי and רב נחמן argue over whether a קרפף mostly planted with trees counts as a חצר only when the trees stand in rows, and a story shows רב הונא בר יהודה following רב נחמן. שמואל then teaches how to fix a large קרפף not enclosed for living: break more than ten אמות of the wall and rebuild it down to ten. The גמרא asks whether doing this one אמה at a time works, and settles it through חזקיה's question about small sealed holes and רבי יוחנן's proof from a sandal: 'פנים חדשות באו לכאן.' The amud ends with three rulings: רב כהנא on a רחבה behind houses, רב נחמן on a doorway opened before the fence, and רבא's ruling that a flooded קרפף is like one planted with trees, so carrying stays permitted.

Opening lines

בְּטִיל לֵיהּ לְגַבַּי רוּבָּה,

it (the minority) is nullified relative to the majority,

וְהָוֵה לֵיהּ קַרְפֵּף יוֹתֵר מִבֵּית סָאתַיִם — וְאָסוּר.

and it becomes a karpef larger than two beit se'a, and it is forbidden.

אֶלָּא אִי אִיתְּמַר הָכִי אִיתְּמַר:

Rather, if it was stated, this is how it was stated:

הָא מִיעוּטָא — שָׁרֵי.

it follows that a minority (sown) is permitted.

The steps (27)

  1. ChallengeThe small unsown part gets swallowed by the sown majority
  2. ResolutionRestating the ruling: a sown minority is permitted
  3. StatementStrict limit: a sown area of exactly בית סאתים already forbids
  4. QuestionWhose view does the strict limit follow?
  5. ResponseIt follows the רבנן
  6. StatementLenient version: only more than בית סאתים forbids
  7. QuestionWhose view does the lenient version follow?
  8. ResponseIt follows רבי שמעון
  9. StatementPlanted trees only count if they stand in rows
  10. Statementרב נחמן: rows are not needed
  11. Challengeמר יהודה sees people carrying among trees that are not in rows
  12. Resolutionרב הונא follows רב נחמן
  13. StatementHow to fix a large enclosure not made for living
  14. QuestionWhat if he breaks and rebuilds one cubit at a time?
  15. ResponseThe wall question matches a known utensil rule
  16. Questionחזקיה asks about small holes that add up
  17. Proofרבי יוחנן cites the case of a sandal fixed one strap at a time
  18. ChallengeWhy should the second strap matter more than the first?
  19. ResponseNew faces have come here, for the sandal and the utensil alike
  20. Conclusionחזקיה's amazed praise of רבי יוחנן
  21. Statementרב כהנא: in a yard behind the houses, carry only four אמות
  22. StatementA doorway from the house permits the whole area
  23. StatementOnly if the doorway came before the fence
  24. ChallengeWhy say the obvious case?
  25. ResolutionThe case of a threshing floor in the area
  26. StatementThe רבנן's first view: a flooded area is like seeds
  27. Rejectionרבא's view: water is like trees, so it is permitted