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Eruvin 63b

עירובין ס״ג ע״ב

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Topic

יהושע's childlessness and the greatness of תלמוד תורה; not disturbing a married couple's privacy; אביי's solution for a gentile who refuses to rent his rights in an alley

Overview

This amud opens at the end of a proof from the previous amud: the verse 'נון בנו יהושע בנו' shows that יהושע had no son. רבי אבא בר פפא gives a different reason for this punishment: יהושע kept ישראל from פריה ורביה for one night. His source is the angel who met יהושע near יריחו and said 'עתה באתי'. The angel had come because ישראל were neglecting תלמוד תורה, and יהושע immediately spent the night deep in הלכה. A tradition that marital relations are forbidden while the ארון and שכינה are out of place explains the link to פריה ורביה. From the same story, רב teaches that תלמוד תורה is greater than the תמידין. רב then says it is wrong to sleep in a married couple's room. רב יוסף extends this even to when the wife is a נדה, and the גמרא rejects רבא's view that the guest deserves a blessing. Finally, the גמרא returns to עירובין: a gentile refuses to rent his rights in an alley, so אביי tells the residents to renounce their rights to one person. אביי defends this by saying רבנן do not decree for rare cases, and רבא's reaction begins on the next amud.

Opening lines

וּכְתִיב: ״נוֹן בְּנוֹ יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בְּנוֹ״.

And it is written: 'Nun his son, Joshua his son.'

וּפְלִיגָא דְּרַבִּי אַבָּא בַּר פָּפָּא,

And this disagrees with Rabbi Abba bar Pappa,

דְּאָמַר רַבִּי אַבָּא בַּר פָּפָּא:

for Rabbi Abba bar Pappa said:

לֹא נֶעֱנַשׁ יְהוֹשֻׁעַ

Joshua was not punished

The steps (18)

  1. ProofThe verse proving יהושע had no children
  2. Statementרבי אבא בר פפא gives a different reason for the punishment
  3. ProofThe verses about the angel at יריחו
  4. StatementThe angel lists two failures
  5. Questionיהושע asks which failure brought the angel
  6. Response'Now I have come': neglecting Torah study is more serious
  7. StatementJoshua goes deep into learning Torah
  8. ConclusionWhy the delay caused a loss of marital relations
  9. StatementTorah study is greater than the daily offerings
  10. StatementThe sin of sleeping in a couple's room
  11. StatementThe problem applies even when the wife is a נדה
  12. Statementרבא says the guest deserves a blessing
  13. RejectionRejecting רבא: who guarded them until now?
  14. QuestionA gentile refuses to rent out his rights in the alley
  15. Responseאביי's solution: give your rights to one person
  16. ChallengeThe residents object: many Jews really do live here
  17. Resolutionאביי answers: giving up rights to one person is itself rare
  18. Statementרב הונא brings אביי's ruling to רבא