“The two courtyards are regarded as one.”

There are families that created ‘pods” during the coronavirus quarantine where they agreed to relax the social distancing rules among themselves. The pods are formed by two to three families that restrict their exposure to just each other. It is a risk to open up contact in this way but also allows for increased social contact and support at a time when the world seems upside down.

“Those who pass through the valley of weeping turn it into a water spring; moreover, the early rain covers it with blessings.”

Yesterday’s Daf Yomi portion considered man’s original sin and the creation story. Today the text discusses the pain a righteous sinner experiences who has goodness within him but transgresses. Unlike the truly wicked, his punishment is to live with the knowledge that he has lapsed from what might have been positive intentions. And then just like that, someone changed the channel without warning, and we return in the text to the discussion of eruvs.

“Adam was first created with two faces, one male and the other female.”

After days of dry analysis about crossbeams and upright boards constructed around wells, we are presented with a creation tale that I never heard before. We are told that Adam might have born with a male and female face or a tail depending on which version of the creation tale you believe in today’s reading – neither of which corresponds with what I learned in Hebrew School. 

“This being the case, their opinion on this matter is that of the many.”

Today’s discussion includes an assessment of how many people are required to be allowed to carry on Shabbat in an eruv. This is never more pertinent than this moment in time when public spaces are limited due to public health concerns. We are told that each person is allowed a certain amount of space for carrying on Shabbat, which reverberates with the images of red circles that now appear everywhere I go to remind us that we must stay six feet or two meters apart. I envision those red circles in the courtyards under discussion in today’s reading.

“Any partition that is not made of both vertical and horizontal elements is not a partition.”

Today’s Daf Yomi portion is a reminder of how we carve out private spaces in which we inhabit our lives. It is evident when you see people living on the streets who pile up bags and mattresses and blankets in order to create a private domain for themselves, and people on a crowded subway who have walled themselves off from everyone around them.

“Isn’t it possible to be precise?”

The conversation continues today with an examination of whether natural barriers – like the willow trees that I remember playing under in my childhood – transform a space into a private domain for the purpose of carrying on Shabbat. The discussion hinges on whether what we have been talking about all these days is a partition or a conspicuous marker; one creates a physical barrier while the other creates a symbolic one.

“Go out and observe what the people are doing.”

After a respite yesterday, the Rabbis are back in the alley measuring crossbeams. But still, how much more is there to say about the topic? Evidentially, there is plenty more to consider. After discussing the placement of crossbeams in an alley every which way, today the Rabbinic discussion focuses on the minimum width of a crossbeam. There is a lesson to be gleaned from the discussion concerning the consideration of actual practice when policies are developed and instituted.

“And your eyes shall see your teacher.”

I have written extensively about the importance of crossing political, personal, racial and religious divides in order to understand divergent perspectives and points of view. It is the quintessential lesson gleaned from all the Talmud readings to date, because the Rabbis always have another opinion. And for every opinion there is another one and even another one.

“How precise are the traditions of the Elders.”

Did the Rabbis consider the power of nature when they afforded water the special status of leniency in today’s reading, or is there really nothing more to the text than an intellectual exercise involving the breach of a courtyard wall? In the words of the great Peggy Lee, is that all there is my friends?

“If you say that both this and that are cases where the vines were attached from the side, what is there to say?”

Today’s text brought me back to the hills of Northern California. For a New Yorker, California was always a dreamlike place where I found a city in bloom when I visited Los Angeles in the winter and the east coast was dark and dreary, and cool breezes and healing sunlight when I visited San Francisco in the summer when New York was sodden with humidity.

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

The discussion on carrying in a courtyard on Shabbat continues and continues and continues in today’s Daf Yomi reading. I have not looked ahead – mostly because I am terrified to do so – but wonder if there are days or months more ahead of discussions on courtyards and alleyways and signposts and crossbeams. The discussion of an elderly Rabbi who was once a renowned expert on the topic but has suffered from memory loss is the portion of the reading that most resonated with me today.

“It has found its own type and been awakened.”

In today’s Daf Yomi text Rabbi Zakkai is banished from the study hall for having a contrary point of view regarding the designation of a domain beneath a crossbeam. I read the story of the banishment of the Rabbi against the backdrop of the Democratic National Convention in the U.S which kicked off last night. The deep divisions between “blue states” and “red states’ has not abated in the face of the worse public health crisis of our lifetime.

“Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi did not state a ruling indicating a prohibition to carry in the alleyway.”

I read the text each day through my own experience, which is living in New York City for the past 40 years.  When Rav and Shmuel continue the discussion of alleyways in today’s text and dispute what is allowable when one side opens upon an enclosed area, I envision the air shafts that existed when I lived in the East Village in the 1980s in an old tenement building. I

“One should act either in accordance with both the leniencies and the stringencies of the one Master, or in accordance with both the leniencies and the stringencies of the other Master.”

Today’s text continues much of the discussion on alleyways from the previous days but adds guidance on the importance of intellectual consistency. We are told that one should not pick and choose among Rabbinic points of view but should act in accordance with both the “leniency and stringency” of one.

“The fool walks in darkness”

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Saturday night’s Rabbinic boxing match. We feature two weight divisions tonight and have lined up Rabbis who will pair off with their verbal sparring. The winner will receive an acknowledgement by the Gemara that his position will prevail in the Talmud for all eternity. Let’s have a clean fight. Rabbis: shake hands and acknowledge each other’s point of view and then head to your corners until the referee gives the signal to proceed. 

“The principle is that where there is an uncertainty with regard to a rabbinic law, one may assume the lenient position, as opposed to an uncertainty arising with respect to a Torah law, where one assumes the stringent position.”

It struck me today as I made my way through a very difficult text that reading the Talmud is like an alleyway that opens on three sides to private domains and one to a public space. The struggle when coming in from a public space is to find the doorway to that leads into a quiet courtyard with some shade, and a faint breeze and a respite from a busy street. Today I am mostly left out there wandering the streets looking for a way in.

“A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey.”

Today’s passage with its protracted discussion of measures provides insight into how difficult it must have been to create standards when a handbreadth could vary if one’s fingers were spread wide apart or tightly clenched together. And of course, hands come in different sizes. What resonated with me is how the Rabbis parsed the passage from Deuteronomy to establish some common measures.

“A pot belonging to partners is neither hot nor cold.”

I wish I could believe the voice of the Talmud when it tells us over and over that “it is not difficult.” I read each day diligently in order to find just one thing that I can grasp onto and find meaning. There are many days when I am on the verge of giving up, but then find that one thing in the last paragraph of the day’s text. Today, the one thing that resonated with me is the account of shared responsibility which can result in nobody doing anything. But it took a while to get there.

“And let them make me a Temple that I may dwell among them.”

I entered the Eruvin Tractate today with great hesitancy. I have read that it is the most difficult Tractate of the Talmud, and I found sections of the previous Shabbos Tractate very challenging. The Tractate starts without a lot of fanfare with a discussion on the configuration of courtyards and what is permissible on Shabbat. We appear to be in for many more discussions on carrying in the public domain on Shabbat. Finding a kernel of something that I can relate to is the way I make sense of these difficult readings.