daf bit: Eruvin 6

[cellio]

This week we begin a new tractate, Eruvin. On Shabbat one is not permitted to carry items from a private domain (like a house) into a public domain (like the street) or vice versa. However, this doesn't apply to houses around a central (fenced or walled) courtyard, an architectural style common in ancient Israel; this can be viewed as one big private domain even though it's multi-dwelling. (There are rules, like the people living there actually need to share food on Shabbat.) Applying similar principles, a larger space, like a town, can be enclosed by an eiruv and thus treated as a private domain.

The first several pages of this tractate discuss alleys. An alley is not like a courtyard because it's open at both ends (it's a thoroughfare). The rabbis discuss the effects of walls, posts, doorways, and openings below a certain width. On today's daf we learn that it was taught in the name of R. Yochanan that Jerusalem, a walled city with a central road running through the center, would have been treated as a public domain because of the road, were it not for the fact that its gates were closed at night, rendering it like a courtyard. 'Ulla, too, said the same of the city of Mahuza, which also had gates that were closed at night. But Beit Hillel said you don't need to close the doors; they just need to be present.(6b)

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I always love the daf bittim, but this is especially intriguing. *makes note*

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

(There are rules, like the people living there actually need to share food on Shabbat.)

This seems like it would become logistically impossible for groups above a certain size. Probably more than a courtyard, but certainly less than a city?

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

I must say that when you mentioned "private domain" and "public domain" the techie in me kicked in. One assumes they are talking about physical items and not virtual ones, like things typed or online purchases -- although an extension of the rule would seem appropriate in modern days.

So what do you do if USPS delivers mail? I suppose they are doing the carrying so are merely a proxy. So all you need for inter-household trading is a good heathen who will pick up from one private domain and cross the firewall into another private domain? Such arrangements would be against the spirit of the law, of course.