Topics covered:
Chapter 2, Mishna 1 The virtual partitions around wells were instituted for the benefit of Festival pilgrims going to Jerusalem, and some say for their animals. Rav Yimeya bar Abba says that Rav said, huts and boards don’t apply in Babylonia, but they do. Marei the son of Rav Huna took Rav Hisda on a Shabbos journey to pray in the prophet Daniel’s synagogue, without violating the Sages’ limit on Shabbos walking. Now we get into some spectacular homiletic teachings regarding the vastness of God’s Torah, and how the Oral Tradition is the flowering of that Torah in our world. Teachings from Zechariah and Isaiah combine to show that the Torah is 3200 times more vast than the whole physical universe! Rabbi Akiva would rather die of thirst than violate the law that we must wash before eating. Do not try this at home – he was operating at an extreme spiritual level that led to his martyrdom. King Solomon instituted hand-washing before eating and the law of eruv. Until his reign, Israel did not have enough peace for such decrees. From a verse in Song of Songs, we learn the hierarchy of Torah learning for a scholar, progressing from Bible to Talmud.