Off the Daf and Into Israel

Shabbat 15-16 People Who Live in Glass Houses   These pages contain a discussion about at which historical point glass vessels were considered capable of becoming impure. The earliest option is the time of the zugot, Yosi Ben Yoezer and Yosi Ben Yochanan, 2 nd century BCE, then the suggestion is eighty years before the destruction of the Temple (late 1 st century BCE) and finally the time of Usha (2 nd century CE). We also hear about how glass is similar to and also different from both earthenware and metal vessels. So what do we know about glassmaking? Glass production started at least five thousand years ago in Mesopotamia. Egypt was an important center for it. As far as we know, glass was not manufactured in the land of Israel but glass objects were imported here. This glass was beautiful but not transparent or even translucent. Glass pieces from the manufacturing process were reused (important for our daf – glass can be fixed, i.e., made into a new vessel). For s...

Shabbat 6 What Does Your Neighborhood Look Like? Masechet Shabbat has begun and with it a whole slew of new and complex concepts. We are talking about the reshuyot, the different areas where life is conducted. The most accessible to us are the public - reshut harabbim – and the private- reshut hayachid. But within those two as well as in addition are many other concepts. It may be helpful to examine some of the terms the Gemara uses and see what they looked like in the ancient world.   What is a reshut harabbim asks our daf.   The answers: a  סרטיא    seratia and a פלטיא   plateia, as well as thoroughfares that are open at both ends מבואות מפולשין . The open thoroughfare is easy enough to understand and if you have been to the ancient site of Susya in the southern Hebron Hills you have seen such a main street, with the passageways to courtyards branching off of it: (Wikimedia commons) But what of the other two terms? Rashi explains...