Siman - Shabbos Daf 99
- Why a reshus harabim is sixteen amos
Abaye said that the space between one agalah (wagon) and the agalah beside it, equaled the length of an agalah, which was five amos. Therefore, the total space occupied by the two agalos and the space in between them was fifteen amos.
The Gemara asks why then is it an established principle that a reshus harabim is sixteen amos, and answers that the extra amah width on the road traveled by the agalos, was where a Levi would stand so that if one of the kerashim began to slide off, he could set it right.
- The status of a thin wall of a reshus hayachid
Rebbe Yochanan asked what the law is in a case where there is a wall in reshus harabim that is ten tefachim high but not four tefachim wide, and it surrounds a karmelis, thereby making the karmelis a reshus hayachid , and someone standing in a reshus harabim threw an object and it landed on top of the wall. Do we say that since the wall is not four tefachim wide, the top of the wall is a makom petur and the person is exempt, or do we say that since the wall made the karmelis a reshus hayachid, it is as though the enclosed area is filled to the top of the wall, making the top of the wall a mere extension of the four-tefachim “surface” adjacent to it on the inside, and therefore the thrower is liable?
Ullah answered and said that if the wall forms a partition for other areas, all the more so it will do it for itself as well. Therefore, the thrower would be liable for throwing it on top of the wall.
- Throwing dirt into a ten tefach pit
Rebbe Yochanan asked what the law is in a case where someone in reshus harabim threw dirt into a ten tefachim deep and four tefachim wide pit, which has the status of a reshus hayachid, and by throwing the dirt into it, he reduced the depth of the pit to less than ten tefachim, thereby making it having less than the necessary measurements to be a reshus hayachid? Do we view it as if the earth were thrown into a reshus hayachid or not ?
According to Rashi, Rebbe Yochanan wants to know if the negation of the pit’s status as a reshus hayachid at the moment the earth comes to rest in the pit, exempt the thrower.
The Gemara attempts to resolve Rebbe Yochanan’s question but is not successful.
