daf bit: Bava Metzia 33

[cellio]

The torah teaches: if you meet your enemy's donkey gone astray you must return it to him, and if you see the donkey of one who hates you overwhelmed by its load you must help unload it. The g'mara discusses the latter and asks what distance "see" represents -- how far must you go to help the animal? The rabbis juxtapose these verses and say "see" is like "meet", and (through reasoning not explained here) conclude that the distance in question is two-fifteenths of a mil, which in modern terms is 200 feet. If you're at least that close, you must go and help. A tanna teaches that one must then accompany it a short distance (a parsang, whatever that is) lest it fall again. (33a)

Comments

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

Two fifteenths of a mil

A mil is 2000 amot (cubits). So 2/15 therof would be 266 2/3 amot, or 266 amot and 4 tefachim (handsbreaths). By all accounts an ama is more than a foot, so I have no idea how you arrived at 200 feet. The usual conversion of the ama is 1.5 or 2 ft. The Chazon Ish (which will be on the large end) said a t efach was 9.6 cm (3.78 in), I think. This makes an ama of 22.67 inches.

Mil is also used to be an approximation of time. In these cases it means the time it takes to travel that distance. Since the Talmud says an average daylight period (12 hrs) is 40 mil, a mil comes out as 18 minutes (this is the source of every 18 minutes you have heard of in halakha...matza, candlelighting, etc) However, this assumes a ridiculously slow walking pace unless the largest distance and shortest time are assumed (even here 2.375 mph, which seems a slow walking pace).

[cellio]

A mil is 2000 amot

A footnote in the Soncino translation says 1000 cubits. I assumed the conventional 18" cubit to get 200 feet.

Thanks for the time information! Agree on the slow walking pace, though.