Welcome to the Hundred and Eightieth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Alyssa Gray looks at Masechet Eruvin Daf 25.

Building a partition (mehitzah) 4 handbreadths into a karpef from a mound (tel) for residential purposes will suffice to allow carrying on Shabbat within the karpef, even if it is larger than 2 bet se’ahs. Building a mehitzah on the edge of the tel itself will also suffice; this is mehitzah al gabei mehitzah. This will not, however, suffice as a way to acquire ownerless property, as an unnamed, unfortunate woman learned from Rav Nahman to her detriment.

Alyssa Gray, J.D., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Codes and Responsa Literature at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. She has written extensively on many topics in Talmud and Jewish law, and has taught and lectured widely in the United States, Israel, Europe, and South America.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Welcome to the Hundred and Seventy Ninth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Alyssa Gray looks at Masechet Eruvin Daf 24.

The Gemara continues to explore issues involving the karpef, as well as the rehavah (fenced-in yard). A karpef greater in size than two bet se’ahs that was not hukaf l’dirah (enclosed for residential purposes) may still be an area within which carrying is permitted on Shabbat under certain circumstances, and a karpef that was hukaf l’dirah will not lose that status if water enters it.

Alyssa Gray, J.D., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Codes and Responsa Literature at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. She has written extensively on many topics in Talmud and Jewish law, and has taught and lectured widely in the United States, Israel, Europe, and South America.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Welcome to the Hundred and Seventy Eighth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Alyssa Gray looks at Masechet Eruvin Daf 23.

Under what circumstances may one carry on Shabbat in a garden or a karpef? What is a karpef? Three Tannaim dispute about this; two holding that even a garden or karpef of the appropriate size must have something else before one is allowed to carry within it, and one Tanna arguing that size alone matters.

Alyssa Gray, J.D., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Codes and Responsa Literature at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. She has written extensively on many topics in Talmud and Jewish law, and has taught and lectured widely in the United States, Israel, Europe, and South America.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Welcome to the Hundred and Seventy Seventh episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Alyssa Gray looks at Masechet Eruvin Daf 22.

R. Yohanan says that people are not liable in the land of Israel on account of public domain; that is, they are not liable for carrying in the public domain on Shabbat. Does he mean there’s no such thing as a public domain in the land of Israel, or something less radical?

Alyssa Gray, J.D., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Codes and Responsa Literature at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. She has written extensively on many topics in Talmud and Jewish law, and has taught and lectured widely in the United States, Israel, Europe, and South America.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Welcome to the Hundred and Seventy Sixith episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Alyssa Gray looks at Masechet Eruvin Daf 21.

In an interesting aggadic passage, the Bavli compares Torah and rabbinic law, and interestingly seems to consider the observance of the latter as a more serious matter than the former. What is at stake for the Bavli is rabbinic authority to innovate law; an authority it needs to justify in order to make sense of the entire rabbinic institution of eruvin.

Alyssa Gray, J.D., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Codes and Responsa Literature at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. She has written extensively on many topics in Talmud and Jewish law, and has taught and lectured widely in the United States, Israel, Europe, and South America.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Welcome to the Hundred and Seventy Fifth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Danny Nevins looks at Masechet Eruvin Daf 20.

The stand-out line of our final page is, “Camels are different, because their necks are long.” Our preoccupation is still with the water-well barrier, and the limits of its efficacy for people, cows and, yes, camels. This discussion is true to the overall theme of the volume—the limits on carrying, and the mechanisms available to allow Shabbat to be distinguished from other days, while still permitting the necessities of life.

Rabbi Danny Nevins is the dean of the JTS Division of Religious Leadership, which includes the Rabbinical School and H.L. Miller Cantorial School, as well as the Center for Pastoral Education. In addition to teaching at JTS, he serves as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, and has written responsa on various subjects in topics related to bioethics, disability, sexuality and technology. Prior to working at JTS, he served as rabbi of Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, MI.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Welcome to the Hundred and Seventy Fourth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Danny Nevins looks at Masechet Eruvin Daf 19.

We continue to study “aggadot” brought in the name of Rabbi Yirmiah ben Elazar, especially traditions about the nature of “Geihinnam” or hell. Alas, the text returns on Side B to the specifications of barriers used to surround a well in order to allow animals to drink on Shabbat.

Rabbi Danny Nevins is the dean of the JTS Division of Religious Leadership, which includes the Rabbinical School and H.L. Miller Cantorial School, as well as the Center for Pastoral Education. In addition to teaching at JTS, he serves as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, and has written responsa on various subjects in topics related to bioethics, disability, sexuality and technology. Prior to working at JTS, he served as rabbi of Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, MI.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Welcome to the Hundred and Seventy Third episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Danny Nevins looks at Masechet Eruvin Daf 18.

Chapter two of the tractate opens with a Mishnah that describes a special structure devised to allow use of a well on Shabbat. Its corner panels are called “deuomadim,” which is apparently a blending of the Greek prefix “deu-” (for two) and the Hebrew word “omdim” (for posts). This leads the Sages into a discussion of other words that use the prefix “deu-,” most famously the “two-faced” and androgynous “Adam” described in Genesis. This in turn leads to discussions of human nature, of gender relations, and of the fallen state of spiritual life after the Temple’s destruction.

Rabbi Danny Nevins is the dean of the JTS Division of Religious Leadership, which includes the Rabbinical School and H.L. Miller Cantorial School, as well as the Center for Pastoral Education. In addition to teaching at JTS, he serves as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, and has written responsa on various subjects in topics related to bioethics, disability, sexuality and technology. Prior to working at JTS, he served as rabbi of Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, MI.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Welcome to the Hundred and Seventy Second episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Danny Nevins looks at Masechet Eruvin Daf 17.

They say that “military ethics” is an oxymoron, and our Mishnah on 17a seems to support the contention. Troops are allowed to violate both ritual and ethical norms when on a military campaign, even if there is no immediate threat to their lives. Yet ethical imperatives remain; there is no carte blanche for troops to steal, and the extraordinary obligation to attend to battlefield casualties is heavy upon them.

Rabbi Danny Nevins is the dean of the JTS Division of Religious Leadership, which includes the Rabbinical School and H.L. Miller Cantorial School, as well as the Center for Pastoral Education. In addition to teaching at JTS, he serves as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, and has written responsa on various subjects in topics related to bioethics, disability, sexuality and technology. Prior to working at JTS, he served as rabbi of Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, MI.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Welcome to the Hundred and Seventy First episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Danny Nevins looks at Masechet Eruvin Daf 16.

Today we follow an argument between Rav Huna and Rav Pappa (which begins at the end of 15b) about the seemingly minor point of whether a barrier that has precisely the same quantity of gaps and wall is recognized as an Eruv. Rav Pappa’s supporters lose round after round of the argument, but he still carries the day. How come? In the end, his reading of the Mishnah is just better! It’s reassuring to find a triumph of reasoning, and of a lenient reading to boot.

Rabbi Danny Nevins is the dean of the JTS Division of Religious Leadership, which includes the Rabbinical School and H.L. Miller Cantorial School, as well as the Center for Pastoral Education. In addition to teaching at JTS, he serves as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, and has written responsa on various subjects in topics related to bioethics, disability, sexuality and technology. Prior to working at JTS, he served as rabbi of Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, MI.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.