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Eruvin 55b

עירובין נ״ה ע״ב

Learn Eruvin 55b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

How a city's boundaries are set for תחום שבת: the קרפף, bow-shaped cities, wall remnants, structures near a city, and hut settlements.

Overview

The amud opens by explaining why רב הונא had to say 'a קרפף for each side' twice, once for a split city and once for two neighboring cities. The answer is צריכא: each case has its own reason. Next, the גמרא asks how deep a bow-shaped city may curve before we stop drawing a straight bowstring line, and אביי sides with the view that even more than 2,000 אמות is fine. The גמרא then defines the משנה's גדודיות as three walls without a roof. It asks about two walls with a roof and tries to answer from a ברייתא listing what does and does not count as part of a city, but the proof is rejected. Two items from that list, a house on the sea and a cave, are then explained. רב הונא rules that hut-dwellers measure their תחום from their own doors. רבא defends this against a challenge from the desert camp, and רב אשי sets a minimum for a hut settlement to count as fixed. An אגדה section describes the hard life of hut-dwellers and gives two reasons for it. The amud ends with רב הונא's teaching about cities without vegetables and the start of a ברייתא that challenges it; that challenge continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

נוֹתְנִין קַרְפֵּף לָעִיר,

One gives a karpef to the city,

דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי מֵאִיר.

these are the words of Rabbi Meir.

וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים:

And the Sages say:

לֹא אָמְרוּ קַרְפֵּף

They did not speak of a karpef

The steps (34)

  1. StatementThe משנה: giving a city a קרפף
  2. Challengeרב הונא already said 'a קרפף for each'
  3. ResolutionFirst reason both rulings are needed: the split city was once permitted
  4. ResolutionSecond reason both rulings are needed: two cities crowd each other
  5. QuestionHow far can the curve be from the bowstring?
  6. ResponseFather and son disagree: 2,000 אמות or even more
  7. Proofאביי sides with the son: you could walk through the houses anyway
  8. StatementThe משנה's line about wall remnants
  9. QuestionWhat are גדודיות?
  10. Responseרב יהודה: three walls with no roof
  11. QuestionWhat about two walls with a roof?
  12. ProofA list of structures counted as part of the city
  13. ProofThe second half of the ברייתא: structures that are not part of the city
  14. ProofProof from the breached monument: two walls with a roof do not count
  15. RejectionRejection: the breached monument has no roof
  16. QuestionWhat is a house on the sea used for?
  17. Responseרב פפא: a storage house for the ship's utensils
  18. ChallengeContradiction: רבי חייא says a cave is included
  19. Resolutionאביי: a cave counts when a building stands at its entrance
  20. ChallengeWhy mention the cave if the building already counts?
  21. ResolutionThe cave is needed to complete the minimum size
  22. StatementHut-dwellers measure from their own doorways
  23. ChallengeThe desert camp of tents was treated as one city
  24. ResolutionThe desert camp was special because God fixed it
  25. StatementWhen a hut settlement becomes permanent
  26. StatementThe hard life of hut-dwellers and desert travelers
  27. ProofA ברייתא supports רב's harsh view of hut-dwellers
  28. QuestionWhy are hut-dwellers described so harshly?
  29. Responseעולא: There are no bathhouses
  30. Responseרבי יוחנן: Everyone knows when the women immerse
  31. QuestionWhat is the practical difference between the two reasons?
  32. ResponseA river right next to the house
  33. StatementA תלמיד חכם should not live in a city without vegetables
  34. ChallengeChallenge: A ברייתא says some foods are harmful