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Eruvin 6a

עירובין ו׳ ע״א

Learn Eruvin 6a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Breaches in the walls of a מבוי (side vs. front, the crooked alley, wall remnants), and whether a רשות הרבים can be fixed with an עירוב.

Overview

The amud opens with the end of a ruling: a breach in the side of a מבוי is allowed up to ten אמות, but a breach at its front only up to four טפחים. The גמרא asks why the front breach is not also treated as a doorway (פתחא). רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע answers that the front breach is in a corner, and people do not build doorways in corners. רב הונא disagrees and holds that every breach is limited to four טפחים. He cites רב's practical ruling in דמחריא, and רב נחמן בר יצחק adds a proof from רב's view that an L-shaped מבוי עקום is treated as open on both ends. רב חנן בר רבא rejects both proofs. דמחריא was a special local safeguard, and in the crooked alley crowds walk through the turn. The גמרא then reconciles רב הונא with רבי אמי and רבי אסי: their lenient case has wall remnants (גידודי) still standing. Finally a ברייתא teaches how to make an עירוב for a public thoroughfare. The גמרא begins to challenge it from a teaching of רבי יהודה, and that challenge continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מִצִּידּוֹ — בְּעֶשֶׂר,

From its side — with ten (cubits);

מֵרֹאשׁוֹ — בְּאַרְבָּעָה.

from its front — with four (handbreadths).

מַאי שְׁנָא מִצִּידּוֹ בְּעֶשֶׂר —

What is different about the side, that the limit is ten —

דְּאָמַר פִּתְחָא הוּא,

because one says it is a doorway;

The steps (14)

  1. StatementSide breach up to ten, front breach up to four
  2. ChallengeWhy not call the front breach a doorway too
  3. ResolutionThe front breach is in a corner, where no one builds doorways
  4. Statementרב הונא: both side and front are limited to four
  5. Proofרב הונא cites רב's practical ruling in דמחריא
  6. RejectionRejection: רב was adding a special safeguard
  7. Proofרב נחמן בר יצחק supports רב הונא from the crooked-alley dispute
  8. QuestionWhat size opening is the crooked-alley dispute about
  9. ProofEven at ten, רב treats it as open, so a side breach is limited to four
  10. Rejectionרב חנן בר רבא: the crooked alley is different because the public walks through it
  11. Challengeרב הונא seems to contradict רבי אמי and רבי אסי
  12. ResolutionThe difference is the leftover wall remnants
  13. StatementA ברייתא: how to make an עירוב for a public thoroughfare
  14. ChallengeCan a public domain be fixed with an עירוב at all?