Study Shabbat folio 99B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אלא אם כן עשו לה מחיצה גבוהה עשרה טפחים, ואין שותין הימנה בשבת אלא אם כן הכניס לה ראשו ורובו. ובור וחוליתה מצטרפין לעשרה.
unless they constructed a partition around it that is 10 handbreadths high. Everything within the partition is then considered a private domain, and one standing within the partition may draw water from the pit. And similarly, one may only drink water from the pit on Shabbat if he inserts his head and most of his body into the well. And a pit and its bank join together to constitute the total of 10 handbreadths, as stated by R' Yoḥanan.
בעא מיניה רב מרדכי מרבא: עמוד ברשות הרבים גבוה עשרה ורחב ארבעה, וזרק ונח על גביו — מהו? מי אמרינן: הרי עקירה באיסור, הרי הנחה באיסור. או דילמא: כיון דממקום פטור קאתיא — לא.
Rav Mordekhai raised a dilemma before Rava: In a case where there is a column in the public domain that is 10 handbreadths high and 4 handbreadths wide, and one threw an object and it landed atop the column, what is the ruling? The two sides of the dilemma are: Do we say that the lifting from the public domain was performed in a prohibited manner and the placing in the private domain was performed in a prohibited manner, and therefore one is liable? Or perhaps, we say that since the object comes from an exempt domain, the one who threw the object would not be liable. Prior to landing on the column, the object traveled through the airspace above the public domain. The airspace of a public domain extends 10 handbreadths from the ground. Beyond that point the airspace is an exempt domain.
אמר ליה: מתניתין היא. אתא שייליה לרב יוסף, אמר ליה: מתניתין היא. אתא שייליה לאביי, אמר ליה: מתניתין היא. אמר להו: כולכו ברוקא דהדדי תפיתו.
Rava said to Rav Mordekhai: It is our Mishnah that states that one who places an object atop a boulder that is more than 10 handbreadths high is liable. Rav Mordekhai came and asked Rav Yosef about the same dilemma: Rav Yosef said to him: It is our Mishnah. Rav Mordekhai came and asked Abaye. He said to him: It is our Mishnah. Rav Mordekhai said to them: You are all spewing the same spittle. None of you taught anything new. You repeat the same unsatisfactory answer.