“Whichever way you look at it, there is a difficulty.”

What a journey it has been since we started reading about alleyways and courtyards and crossbeams and signposts back in August. I wish I could believe the Talmud when it tells us over and over that “it is not difficult.” I read diligently each day in order to find just one thing that I could grasp onto and find meaning. There were many days when I was on the verge of giving up but would find that one thing in the last paragraph of the day’s text.

“A living being carries itself.”

Today’s Daf Yomi is a journey through the underbelly of the Talmud, literally warts and all. It is not for the squeamish, of which I am one. The portion is a continuation from yesterday when the recovery of a fallen bandage was analyzed. Today, the discussion turns to the removal of warts.

“Go, roll up the mats.”

We appear to be at the very end of this Tractate where the Rabbis are trying to wrap up a few loose ends so that we can finally move on to something more interesting than today’s discussion of bolts and utensils. At least, I hope that is the case, because I have hung on this long in the belief that if I just finished this Tractate, the daily journey through the Talmud would get somehow easier to maneuver.

“We carve out to complete the necessary dimensions.”

Today’s Daf Yomi is typical of many of the strange texts I have encountered since I started this journey with Tractate Eruvin. I am struggling to envision how objects can be dangled in the air in order to create legitimate closures and to get around the prohibition against building in order to construct a fire and cook a hot meal.

“Without knowledge the soul is not good.”

There is nothing more enigmatic than the roots of a very old and sturdy tree. They create navigational paths beneath the surface and provide nourishment to the roots and branches above. When we find our place in life, we often use the language of finding our “roots.” And yet the roots dig deep beneath the earth and there is so much that is unknowable.

“One certainly considers his mouth a significant area.”

My post today is a public service announcement of sorts. Despite what the Gemara tells us is allowable, there are things that one should just not do for the greater good. We are in the middle of a public health crisis unlike any most of us have experienced in our lifetime, and it is critical that we wear masks and avoid spreading spittle particles.

“Something in the air is not considered to be at rest.”

Today’s Daf Yomi reading is for all the klutzes among us who spend our lives trying to clean up messes resulting from dropping and spilling things. I sympathize with the poor guy who appears in today’s portion who after being cooped up for so long decided to head to the roof of his apartment building with a sacred scroll.

“One who finds phylacteries in a field brings them in to the town pair by pair, whether the finder is a man or a woman.”

Instead of a land of milk and honey, today we enter the land of phylacteries; it is a a strange world where phylacteries seemingly grow everywhere around us; the black boxes swing from trees and gangly weeds of straps sprout from the ground. We step over them as we travel through fields where they reside in piles of leather.

“The Sages did not protest against her behavior, as she was permitted to do so.”

One of the most profound memories I have of my paternal grandfather was how he would wrap himself with his phylacteries each morning. It seemed like a strange and mysterious ritual to me and not one that I ever remembered my father performing.

“One may take unilateral action on another’s behalf when it is to that other person’s benefit.”

President Obama recently posted a photo of the walk he took each day along the West Colonnade of the White House between the Oval Office and his private living quarters; this quiet photo resonated with me as I read today about the passageways that connect two homes.

“Why did he turn his face away?”

After writing about the dissenting friendship between Rav and Shmuel and how it serves as a model for people who can come together despite their differences, the relationship between these two takes on a bit of an edge in today’s Daf Yomi.

“They are provided with all the space they require.”

I dreamed last night that I was on a crowded city bus that traveled quietly but steadily through downtown Manhattan. I was seated at the window seat and there were people standing over me as they hung on to the hand straps above them. I was looking out the window transfixed on the street life that unfolded before me. No one wore masks and we were all shoulder-to-shoulder. It was a different time. The dream ended without me arriving anywhere.

“Why is it necessary to repeat the ruling with regard to both roofs and courtyards when the cases are apparently identical?”

Today’s Daf Yomi portion deals with small and large roofs and courtyards that are adjacent to each other. I cannot help making the leap to the inequity among those who live in large properties and those who live in small ones and those who have no domicile at all. We are basically told that the rights of the larger roofs and courtyards override those of the smaller.

“Who whispered to you.”

Today’s Daf Yomi text reads like a final exam for the discussion of eruvs with a summation of all the permutations of roofs, and courtyards and alleyways considered.  I wish it was in fact the final exam, but I fear it is only a late term exercise, with many more days to come.

“Did I come late merely to quarrel, and meddle in other people’s questions?”

Today’s Daf Yomi continues the discussion from the previous day on rooftops and whether they constitute domains in and of themselves. Rav and Shmuel have been wandering through the text since the early days of Berakhot offering their opinion on what is permissible. They rarely agree on anything.

“All the roofs of the city are considered one domain.”

We spent quite a lot of time earlier in this Tractate reading about how to best measure the boundaries of a city, including squaring off its edges. But the only way to really understand the shape of a city is from a roof. It is one thing to be immersed in a crowd on a bustling pre-COVID street at rush hour and to feel part of the flow of the city, but to stand above allows for a view into how everything and everyone is interconnected through the streets and subway stations and city tree

“Gutters ordinarily flow with water in the rainy season.”

Today’s Daf Yomi requires some expertise in waste management, which I don’t have. Nor am I especially adept at understanding complex spatial relationships, like the suspended balconies that appeared in yesterday’s reading. I am a bit squeamish in general and the discussion of discarding waste is above my current tolerance level of discomfort.

“Under what circumstances can a balcony with these dimensions be found?”

Water is essential to life and is easy to take for granted because, well, it is just there. Today’s Daf Yomi portion is a reminder of how difficult it was to gain access to water 1,500 years ago when there were no electric pumps or water heaters to provide access to a steady stream of warm water for a nice bath.

“One of this status deserves to be honored in accordance with his riches.”

What is interesting about today’s Daf Yomi is the reverence for wealth. We know some of the Rabbis were not secure economically. The notes in the Koren edition of the Talmud tells us that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi was very well-off and encouraged respect for wealth so that he would not be perceived to derive personal benefit from his study of the Torah.

“One person does not render it prohibited for another by way of the air.”

Yesterday’s Daf Yomi reading focuses on the ownership of air rights belonging to the residents of homes that open onto courtyards and those that open onto balconies. Today the discussion considers another scenario of two balconies that extend over a body of water, with one above the other.