Eiruvin 90a, b

Ninety dapim of conversation about eiruvin!  

Today's daf was shorter than usual.  The rabbis ask questions about a portico, a roof and a ruin - how do these strutures differ in their status as domains, where they might be located, in how far and what can be carried, etc. etc.  When different rabbis hold slightly different views regarding the status of one of these structures, it changes their reasoned halachic response.  In particular, Rav and Shmuel disagree regarding a number of issues today.

In one conversation, Rav Chiyah Bar Yosef asks Shmuel about Shmuel's disagreement with Rav.  Shmuel says  that "the halacha is in accordance with Rav's opinion" as Rav's reasoning is more convincing.  Steinsaltz offers us a small note to help contextualize this exchange.  

I find the lack of ego in Shmuel's response fascinating.  It seems that rabbis would often agree that the halacha should go against their own opinions as other rabbinical arguments were more convincing.  It is hard to imagine that happening regularly today - whether that might be in religious settings, in politics, or in families.  We seem to hold our opinions dear, as if they were part of ourselves and our identities.  The thought that reasoning might be more important than opinion is challenging. It feels as if we could be "giving something up".  As though defensiveness were useful.

The rabbis move on to discuss ships and boats again.  It seems that my lack of clarity regarding certain halachic decisions is shared.  As well, the rabbis raise a new concern: carrying in the underside of an overturned boat.  Anything can be made into a residence!  And thus anything might require rules regarding Shabbat observance.

One other curiosity - the idea of a ruin as a residence.  I had assumed that a ruin was, by definition, a spoiled home or other collection of unused materials.  Today the rabbis speak about the possibility of using a ruin as a residence (but not a portico, which is a roofed structure without walls). I can imagine someone using a portico as a residence just as easily as using a ruin as a residence. So obviously I am missing contextual information that would explain why they are so different as potential sites of residence.