“The residents of the lower balcony go up to the upper balcony by means of a ladder.” 

Today’s Daf Yomi brought me back to the days when I lived in a railroad flat apartment in the East Village in the 1980s and a great deal of life transpired on fire escapes. Fire escapes were a bridge between apartments and provided access to the roof, where one could sit at twilight and watch the dark sky descend on the city.

#Eruvin83: “He is also blessed, as he is not a glutton who requires more.”

I am beginning to see the entire world through the prism of an eruv as I wind my way through Tractate Eruvin. An eruv represents community, public spaces, trust, common values, respect for the earth and nature. I have found relevancy to the pandemic in many of the passages. The reading from a few days ago had everyone running to their cupboards to check the packaging of Ezekiel 4.9 bread to make sure the quote of its namesake was correct.

“Even a six-year-old prefers the company of his mother to that of his father.”

It is imperative to comment when the Talmud provides a view of women with some sense of free will. Granted, the sense of female agency is rather limited in today’s Daf Yomi text because it is discussed in the context of an eruv, but still it is something. And by extension, an eruv can symbolize the larger world around us.

“Take you for yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make them for yourself into bread.” 

Today’s Daf Yomi portion took me back to the happy days of Tractate Berakhot when we first read of the importance of bread. We learned that bread was everything! It was a meal in and of itself and one passage said it was a dessert, which brought to mind how wonderful it is to get lost in the depth of a creamy bread pudding.

Any case where you have the ability to be lenient (with regard to an eiruv), be lenient.”

The readings for weeks have been about the intricacies of abiding by all the rules of establishing an eruv so that one can move about on Shabbat. But what if someone forgets the time and gets stranded somewhere after dark, or has not gotten all the rules exactly right?

“The house retains the status of a house.”

I have been writing since the start of Tractate Eruvin about what it tells us about private and public spaces. But there is another space to consider, and that is the space within. It can feel empty because we do not feel good enough or loved enough or simply enough. In my case the space within has been filled with terror since the start of the pandemic.

“Most of the area is the empty space of the pit.”

I have been thinking a lot about public space since the start of Tractate Eruvin and how in the aftermath of the pandemic cities need to rethink how it is used. Restaurants, gyms, yoga teachers, personal trainers are taking over unused space in New York City wherever they can find it.

“The wall is considered nonexistent.”

Neighbors who live close together in high-rise apartment buildings like where I reside, live separate lives and interact mostly in hallways where they give each other a quick hello and disappear behind their doors. It is a world where doors are much like the courtyard walls that are discussed in today’s Daf Yomi text.

“A window between two rooms are all one and the same.”

Windows represent the borders between our inside world and the one we look out into and the inner courtyard of our dreams and the outer one where we live our public life. During the darkest period of the pandemic they were my entire world as I was shut inside a small one-bedroom apartment

“We joined with you to our benefit and not to our detriment.”

This whole eruv construct of courtyards within courtyards and homes nestled in cul-de-sacs that require passage through other couttyards is a lesson in the interdependence of neighbors on each other. The system falls apart if one neighbor forgets to pay his dues into the eruv home association.c

“Why would I need two rulings regarding the same issue?”

What more can one say about eruvs and courtyards and alleyways and side posts and cross beams? Apparently, there is plenty more to say because the Rabbis really go at it in today’s Daf Yomi text and there is a great deal of intrigue among them.

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There is a very small victory in today’s Talmud for women, who rarely appear, and when they do they lack a name and often a voice. Buried in the discussion of what constitutes a person’s place of dwelling is a reference to “each woman” who is “significant in her own right.” This is a bold statement that is attributed to Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava, and it acknowledges the silent wives and daughters and sisters.

“The fact that they are in the same building does not render them one unified group.”

Today’s Daf Yomi reading considers if one eruv or multiple ones are required when five groups of people spend Shabbat in one hall that is divided into separate rooms, and each one has its own entrance into a courtyard. It is an easy leap from this discussion to partitions that separate people from each other during these pandemic times, and the shared commitment to keeping each other safe.  

“Turn toward the high-quality ones.”

Today’s Daf Yomi discussion of interconnected households extends the considerations to business partnerships. We are told that if neighbors are partners in a wine business together, they are essentially considered a single household and no eruv is necessary. The translated text uses the phrase “authentic partnership” which suggests it needs to be a formal arrangement that has been agreed upon.

“An heir is like his father’s foot.”

Today’s reading reminded me of a time when I was someone’s “foot.” I had a friend named Anne who was a very talented poet and artist. We met in a writer’s workshop and immediately bonded over our shared love for poetry, cats and the artwork of Carolee Schneemann.

“Hurry, and do whatever you must do before the day goes out.”

Anyone who lives in a high-rise apartment in the middle of a large city like I do, will understand the significance of respecting one’s neighbors. The discussion continues today (and seems like it has been going on forever) of the renunciation of courtyard rights to one’s neighbors in order to create an eruv on Shabbat. It takes a great display of trust to do so.

“Did the Sages penalize an unwitting offender due to an intentional offender?”

The Eruvin Tractate is running out of steam on the topic of eruvs, as I am. Today’s reading offered a reprise of greatest hits from prior days, and the ongoing discussion that seems endless about courtyard etiquette.

“And how large may the rock be and remain permitted.”

I am exhausted from trying to make sense of all the renunciations of property rights and the multiple combinations of Jewish and non-Jewish households that allow for carrying or not on Shabbat. My brain is significantly less nimble than Rav Hisda’s which caused Rav Sheshet to quiver in amazement as described in today’s Daf Yomi.

“There is no renunciation of property rights in a ruin.”

There are many parallels in today’s Daf Yomi to the consequences of poor urban policy and planning, and the sale of air rights that can result in lop-sided city blocks. There are a lot of residents running around in today’s reading renouncing rights in a similar way that building owners can renounce air rights in New York City and sell them off to developers who gather them up in a strategy that allows for the construction of buildings that are taller than their zoning rights would allow.

“After I die, there will be more than enough time for sleep.”

Today’s Daf Yomi continues the discussion of the liabilities of an intoxicated person and if he should be held accountable for actions while intoxicated. In perhaps not a reversal of the previous day’s position on the impact of drinking on decision making, but a clarification, the text takes a different turn today. It includes a discussion on tiredness and the lack of sleep, which in its extreme state can result in a condition not unlike drunkenness. sleep