Study Eruvin folio 84B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
תא שמע: שתי גזוזטראות זו למעלה מזו. עשו לעליונה, ולא עשו לתחתונה — שתיהן אסורות עד שיערבו!
The Talmud attempts to cite yet another proof to resolve the dispute between Rav and Shmuel. Come and hear a Mishnah: If a balcony extends over a body of water, and the residents of the balcony cut out a hole in the floor and constructed a partition 10 handbreadths high around the hole, water may be drawn through the hole on Shabbat. If there are two balconies of this kind, one above the other, and they erected a partition for the upper balcony but they did not erect one for the lower one, they are both prohibited from drawing water, unless they establish an eiruv between them. This Mishnah apparently is referring to a case where the residents of the upper balcony draw water by lowering their buckets down, whereas the residents of the lower balcony hoist their bucket to the upper one and draw water from there, i.e., one balcony draws the water by lowering and the other by throwing. The Mishnah rules that they are both prohibited, in accordance with the opinion of Rav and contrary to the opinion of Shmuel.
אמר רב אדא בר אהבה: בבאין בני תחתונה דרך עליונה למלאות.
Rav Adda bar Ahava said: Here we are dealing with a case where the residents of the lower balcony go up to the upper balcony by means of a ladder to draw their water from there. Since they themselves are located in the upper balcony when they draw their water, both sets of residents gain access to their water by lowering.
אביי אמר: כגון דקיימין בתוך עשרה דהדדי, ולא מיבעיא קאמר: לא מיבעיא עשו לתחתונה ולא עשו לעליונה — דאסירי, דכיון דבגו עשרה דהדדי קיימין — אסרן אהדדי,
Abaye said: Here we are dealing with a case, where the two balconies are situated within 10 handbreadths of each other, and the tanna was speaking in the style of: There is no need. In other words, the Mishnah should be understood in the following manner: There is no need to say that if they erect a partition for the lower balcony but they did not erect one for the upper one, they are both prohibited to draw water. The reason is that since they are positioned within 10 handbreadths of each other, they render it prohibited for one another anyway.