Eruvin 6b

עירובין ו׳ ע״ב

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

Open Eruvin 6b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Fixing alleys open at both ends: whether a door is needed and must be locked, and whether one may combine the stringencies of רב and שמואל

Overview

The גמרא asks how a ברייתא could speak of making an עירוב for a רשות הרבים. The חכמים told רבי יהודה that a public street cannot be fixed with a לחי or קורה, and teachings about ירושלים and מחוזא show that only actually locked doors help. So רב יהודה re-reads the ברייתא as being about alleys open at both ends (מבואות המפולשין): a צורת הפתח on one end and a לחי or קורה on the other. רב rules like the תנא קמא, while שמואל rules like חנניה, who requires a door on one end. The גמרא asks whether that door must be locked. שמואל rules it need not be, and the story of רב נחמן clearing the gates of נהרדעא shows the door only has to be able to close. Next, an L-shaped alleyway in נהרדעא was required to have doors by combining רב's stringency (the L-shape counts as open) with שמואל's (an open alley needs doors). The גמרא challenges this with a ברייתא that condemns taking the stringencies of both בית שמאי and בית הלל. It first resolves a contradiction inside that ברייתא's wording, and the discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (24)

1. Statementרבי יהודה's case of two houses across a public street
2. ChallengeThe חכמים reply: a public domain cannot be fixed this way
3. ChallengeEven doors do not help unless they are locked: the case of ירושלים
4. Proofעולא adds: the city gates of מחוזא
5. Resolutionרב יהודה re-reads the ברייתא as being about open-ended alleys
6. Statementרב and שמואל disagree on whose view is the הלכה
7. QuestionMust the door actually be locked according to חנניה?
8. Responseשמואל rules that the door need not be locked
9. QuestionThe same question is put to רב ענן
10. ProofProof from the half-buried gates of נהרדעא
11. Rejectionרב כהנא: those gates were blocked, so they prove nothing
12. Statementרב נחמן orders the earth cleared from the gates
13. QuestionDoes רב נחמן hold the door must be locked?
14. RejectionThe doors only need to be able to lock
15. StatementAn L-shaped alleyway in נהרדעא needed doors
16. Statementרב's stringency: the L-shape counts as open
17. ChallengeBut רב rules leniently on open alleyways
18. ResolutionThe doors come from שמואל, who follows חנניה
19. ChallengeBut שמואל treats the L-shape as closed
20. ResolutionCombining רב on the L-shape with שמואל on doors
21. ChallengeMay one combine the stringencies of two opposing views?
22. ChallengeThe ברייתא seems to contradict itself
23. ResolutionOne line is from before the בת קול and one from after
24. ResolutionA second answer: both lines are from after the בת קול