#eruvin #masecheteruvin #siyum #imagine #cities #air #measuring #shabbat #measuring #outwards #inwards #poetryofspace
Dear Friends,
On Sunday we who are studying Daf Yomi will conclude the third Masechet, which is Masechet Eruvin. I believe that we began the Masechet in August and here we are close to Thanksgiving and we are now on the verge of completing Daf 102.
My understanding is that Masechet Eruvin, which details in hundreds of ways how we restrict our space on Shabbat. An Eruv is set in order to carry on Shabbat. The examples presented were complex. Space was discussed in detail as was how to connect spaces and create spaces that enabled people to carry outdoors and for community to be built. I will write another post which goes over some of the lessons that I recall from the Masechet, but here on this page I am writing what excited me most about the Masechet. I loved that on each page a new and unique problem involving connecting space was presented.
As we complete the Masechet I celebrate the imagination of the rabbis and swell with pride at their ability to see problems and solve them creatively and humanely. Last, but not least, as the pages progress, I am taken by the little moments of humanity that are recorded. I love to hear how the rabbis give each other such respect and that different rabbis and their personalities begin to emerge. To learn the Daf, no matter how new you are to Talmud study, is a privilege. It's like opening Forrest Gump's box of chocolates; You never know what you are going to get on any given day.
Our next Masechet is Shabbat. Is anyone interested in starting the new Daf? It takes only a few minutes a day and it immerses you in aspects of Judaism you likely don't get in your everyday life. Let me know if you would like to give it a try!
Last, here is a poem called "Imagine" which celebrates the imagination of the Rabbis.
IMAGINE
Imagine a world still unbuilt
An expanse of trees, meadows and open air
Imagine that world without streets and homes
a world that spans endlessly outward and upward
Interrupted only by the air and the whistling wind
rivers and mountains intersect and punctuate
The world still unadorned
Now visualize that world being built stone by stone
People at work
measuring, surveying
planning and discussing
comparing and contrasting
Doors and alleyways that connect
Windows and roofs of different shapes,
Towering fences and winding staircases
Balconies that overhang hidden alcoves
Courtyards of every permutation
The most private of spots intersect
the expanse of public space
Separating, uniting
Points, lines and planes
My space bordered by your space
divided and connected
extending outward and upward
Picture it!
Space is filled
Amah by amah
tefach by tefach
Imagine adding people to these places
cities connected to towns,
Villages connected to fields
Farms far from hamlets,
Busy markets and shared courtyards
with unlimited connections to ponder
People: the young and old, Jew and non Jew
Women, men, children and animals
Fill up that space
Spaces mirror
the people who inhabit them
and Shabbat is a frame around it all
Eruvin is the poetry of space
the intersection of imagination and architecture
Connections conceived
Community united with space
Both real and imagined
Space segmented and expanded
Living in harmony with that space
Eruvin is more than measuring
It is more than calculating
It is us, it is the seventh day
It holds us in the wide embrace of community
Shabbat clasped to us and us to Shabbat
Our buildings, our people, our traditions
Space both uniting and enabling
We are surrounded and enveloped
