Study Eruvin folio 93A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
סיכך על גבי אכסדרה שיש לה פצימין — כשירה. ואילו השוה פצימיה — פסולה.
If one placed roofing on top of a portico that has doorposts, i.e., a portico with two parallel walls that are valid for a sukka, as well as posts in the corners supporting the portico and protruding like doorposts, which are considered as sealing the other two sides of the portico, it is a valid sukka. However, if he evened the doorposts by constructing walls adjacent to the existing walls, obscuring the posts so that they do not protrude, the sukka is invalid. This teaching indicates that the creation of a partition can cause prohibition.
אמר ליה אביי: לדידי כשירה, לדידך סילוק מחיצות היא.
Abaye said to him: In my opinion, with regard to that case of a portico, the sukka is valid. However, even according to your opinion, this is another instance of the removal of partitions. Evening the doorposts does not render the sukka invalid through the establishment of new partitions, but because it negates the original partitions of the sukka.
אמר ליה רבה בר רב חנן לאביי: ולא מצינו מחיצה לאיסור? והתניא: בית שחציו מקורה וחציו אינו מקורה, גפנים כאן — מותר לזרוע כאן.
Rabba bar Rav Ḥanan said to Abaye: And didn’t we find that a partition causes prohibition? But wasn’t it taught in a baraita: With regard to a house, half of which is roofed and half unroofed, if there are vines here, under the roofed section of the house, it is permitted to sow crops there, in the open section. The reason is that it is as though the edge of the roof descends to the ground and forms a partition between the two sections of the house.
ואילו השוה את קרויו — אסור. אמר ליה: התם סילוק מחיצות הוא.
And if he evened its roofing, by extending the roof to cover the entire house, it would be prohibited to sow other crops there. It is evident that the very placement of a partition, in this case a roof, causes prohibition. Abaye said to him: There too it is an instance of the removal of partitions. It is prohibited to sow not due to the added roofing; rather, it is prohibited due to the negation of the imaginary partition.