Eiruvin 76a, b

Today's daf introduces us to Perek 7, moving away from definitions regarding residences and living circumstances and moving into a more detailed discussion of courtyards.

We begin with a new Mishna that tells us about the guidelines regarding windows.  If in a courtyard there is a wall and that wall has a window, do we understand the courtyard as one uninterrupted place (according to the concept of lavud, where solid areas are linked together across gaps)?  Or, instead, is the courtyard actually two courtyards?

We learn about the rabbis efforts to understand the dimensions of the given window - and the implications of different 'gaps' in the wall.  They go to painstaking efforts to understand the exact measurements of the window. They look at where the window is placed on the wall to ensure that it is within the 10 handbreadth guideline. They look at rectangular, square and round windows.  When at one point Rabbi Yochanan asserts a mathematical calculation (measurements of a window) that cannot be accurate, the rabbis spend much effort explaining his rationale, though they know that his assumptions were incorrect.  The also challenge his words about the "Judges of Caesarea".  Toward the end of the daf, we learn about the wall in question.  How can we work with an eiruv placed on top of the wall?  This conversation will continue in daf 77a.

Today's daf was easier for me to understand in its conceptual grounding than other dapim of late.  However, I found my eyes glazing over as I read the rabbis' measurements of square windows, circular windows, and circular windows encompassed by square measurements.  I do not enjoy following mathematical calculations at the best of times, and so doing that in the name of window size was almost unbearable.  However, that was only part of today's daf.  Hopefully tomorrow will continue to offer new insights.