Shulchan Aruch · Orach Chayim
In-depth pilpul
Talmudic sources, the underlying chakira,
shitos of the Rishonim on the water channel that runs through a courtyard
Subject:
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, siman שנ״ו — 2 seifim
with the nosei kelim: commentaries on the Shulchan Aruch, Taz, Magen Avraham, sources and notes
Mishnah Berurah: 16 ס״ק
Editing and study:
Rav Yossef Haim Samama · DAAT
📑 Table of contents
- Introduction to the sugya — the water channel in Eruvin 87
- The underlying chakira — when is the water batel to the courtyard?
- Ten deep and four wide — the name of karmelis
- A mechitza at the entry and the exit — the submerged tefach
- A mechitza made for the water — the courtyard wall does not suffice
- Lavud — less than three tefachim
- The Rama's gloss — openings narrower than three
- A courtyard breached — a tongue of sea and gidudin
- The psak of the Beis Yosef and the Shulchan Aruch
- Summary of the shitos and the line of the halacha
📜 The text of the Shulchan Aruch — 2 seifim
אמת המים העוברת בחצר עמוקה עשרה ורחבה ארבעה אין ממלאין ממנה בשבת אלא אם כן עשו לה מחיצה גבוה עשרה בכניסתה וביציאתה ויהיה טפח ממנה משוקע במים ואם היתה המחיצה כולה יורדת בתוך המים צריך שיהי' טפח ממנה יוצא למעל מן המים ואם התחילה לעשות המחיצ' אצל השפה מכל צד ולא חיבר אותם באמצע כדי שיהו המים נכנסים ויוצאים דרך שם אם אין ביניהם ג' טפחים שרי דאמרינן לבוד יש ביניהם ג' טפחים אסור: הגה ואם הנקבים שהאמה נכנס ויוצא בהם אינם רחבים ג' אפי' מחיצה אינו צריך (ב״י בשם ריטב״א):
Translation of seif א: heading — The law of a water channel running through a courtyard; it contains two seifim. A water channel running through a courtyard, ten [tefachim] deep and four wide: one may not draw from it on Shabbos unless a mechitza ten high was made at its entry and at its exit, with one tefach of it submerged in the water. And if the mechitza descends entirely into the water, one tefach of it must protrude above the water. And if the mechitza was begun at each bank without joining the two halves in the middle, so that the water may enter and leave through the gap: if there are less than three tefachim between them it is permitted, for we say lavud; if there are three tefachim it is forbidden. Gloss of the Rama: and if the openings through which the channel enters and leaves are not three [tefachim] wide, no mechitza at all is needed (Beis Yosef in the name of the Ritva).
Translation of seif ב: a courtyard whose wall was breached, with a tongue of sea passing over the breach. If the breach is not along the whole wall and is not more than ten [amos] — it is permitted to draw from it and to bring the water into the house. If the wall was breached along its whole length, or the breach is more than ten: if gidudin ten high remain at the breached place and the water covers them — it is permitted to draw from it in the courtyard, but forbidden to bring the water into the house unless a mechitza ten high was made over the water. If no gidudin remain — it is forbidden even to draw in the courtyard.
Note on the transcription: in the edition Sefaria follows, seif ב reads יותד מי׳ where the sense requires יותר. It is a digitisation slip; it is copied as it stands and is not restored.
1. Introduction to the sugya — the water channel in Eruvin 87
The source in the gemara
The source of the siman is the mishna in Eruvin — אמת המים שהיא עוברת בחצר (עירובין פ״ז ע״א) — together with the sugya that follows it, from Eruvin 87a into 87b. The courtyard is surrounded by mechitzos: it is a reshus hayachid. But the channel, ten deep and four wide, is joined to the water outside the courtyard — and so it is a karmelis running through a reshus hayachid.
The rule is plain: whatever stands inside mechitzos is a reshus hayachid. Why, then, is the channel not batel to the courtyard? Because it is joined to the outer water — and that join preserves its standing as a karmelis. The whole siman turns on severing that join, so as to return the water to the bosom of the reshus hayachid.
2. The underlying chakira — when is the water batel to the courtyard
חקירה: water that stands inside a courtyard — what makes it a karmelis, rather than a reshus hayachid like the rest of the courtyard?
- Were it not joined: any water standing inside the mechitzos is batel to the reshus hayachid — like everything else in the courtyard. The Mishnah Berurah says as much of a pool fed from within, which needs no arrangement at all.
« אבל אם יש לו בריכת מים בחצירו ואינה נמשכת מבחוץ א״צ שום תיקון » (מ״ב שנ״ו:א)
- The outer join: it is precisely when the water is drawn in from outside and leaves again to the outside that it is not batel, and becomes a domain of its own — a karmelis.
The Mishnah Berurah, in ס״ק ג, states both the principle and its limit in a single stroke.
« דכל מה שבתוך המחיצות רה״י הוא ורק בזה כשמחוברין עם המים שמבחוץ אמרינן דאינם בטילים » (מ״ב שנ״ו:ג)
The yesod, then, is the join: once the inner water is separated from the outer, the standing of reshus hayachid returns upon it.
3. Ten deep and four wide — the name of karmelis
« דבשיעור זה נעשו המים רשות לעצמן ושם כרמלית עליהם כשאר ימים ונהרות » (מ״ב שנ״ו:ב)
The converse is stated in the same ס״ק: below that measure one draws without any arrangement, for the water is batel to the reshus hayachid.
« אבל אם אין עמוקין עשרה או שאינם רחבים ד׳ מותר למלאות מהן בלי שום תיקון דבטל הוא לגבי רה״י » (מ״ב שנ״ו:ב)
4. A mechitza at the entry and the exit — the submerged tefach
The yesod: the arrangement required is a mechitza ten high at the channel's entry and at its exit, with one tefach of it submerged in the water. The mechitza separates the inner water from the outer; the submerged tefach makes the separation reach the water itself. And if the mechitza descends entirely into the water, one tefach of it must protrude above the surface, so that it be seen as a mechitza.
Three notes of the Mishnah Berurah hold up this yesod. First, where these mechitzos stand.
« ר״ל במקום כניסת המים לחצר ובמקום יציאת המים מן החצר » (מ״ב שנ״ו:ד)
Next, what the submerged tefach accomplishes.
« לחלוק בין המים שבחוץ שהם כרמלית למים שבפנים » (מ״ב שנ״ו:ה)
And last, why a tefach must protrude when the mechitza lies wholly under the water.
« כדי שיהיה ניכרת קצת המחיצה המפסיקתן » (מ״ב שנ״ו:ו)
5. A mechitza made for the water — the courtyard wall does not suffice
The diyuk of the Mishnah Berurah (ס״ק ג): the courtyard wall itself — even if it is deeply submerged in the water — does not help here.
« ומחיצת החצר גופא אף אם שקוע הרבה במים אינו מועיל בזה » (מ״ב שנ״ו:ג)
What is required is a mechitza of which it can be seen that it was made for the water: a dedicated mechitza, recognisable as set there to divide the water.
« דבעינן שיהא נראה שנעשה בשביל המים » (מ״ב שנ״ו:ג)
This is a condition of substance, not of fact: it does not suffice that a mechitza exist in reality; it must be a mechitza for the sake of separating the waters.
6. Lavud — less than three tefachim
7. The Rama's gloss — openings narrower than three
The Rama's gloss. If the openings through which the channel enters and leaves are not three tefachim wide, then, he writes, no mechitza at all is needed.
« אפי׳ מחיצה אינו צריך » (רמ״א שו״ע או״ח שנ״ו:א)
- An opening narrower than three: the din of lavud stops it up, and the channel is already separated from the outside.
- The yesod: whatever screens between the inner and the outer water works — be it a mechitza, or the lavud of the openings.
The Mishnah Berurah ties this to the general principle of lavud.
« דכל מה שפחות משלשה אמרינן לבוד » (מ״ב שנ״ו:ט)
8. A courtyard breached — a tongue of sea and gidudin
The Mishnah Berurah explains why a breach of no more than ten amos does no harm: the tongue of sea enters the courtyard and does not leave it on the other side, so that it is like a cistern in the courtyard, which the courtyard's mechitzos permit.
« הוא כבור שבחצר ומחיצות החצר מתירות אותה » (מ״ב שנ״ו:י)
And why gidudin covered by the water still suffice.
« דבזה נחשב כאלו המחיצות עדיין קיימות » (מ״ב שנ״ו:י״ב)
As for the distinction between drawing in the courtyard and bringing the water into the house, it rests on this: the mechitza can be seen from the courtyard when the water sinks, which never happens from inside the house.
« דפעמים שהמים שוקעים והמחיצה ניכרת » (מ״ב שנ״ו:י״ג)
And where no gidud remains, the Mishnah Berurah adds that the prohibition is not confined to drawing.
« וה״ה לטלטל בחצר כיון שהוא פרוץ יותר מעשר למקום האסור » (מ״ב שנ״ו:ט״ז)
9. The psak of the Beis Yosef and the Shulchan Aruch
10. Summary of the shitos and the line of the halacha
The yesod: water standing in a courtyard is batel to the reshus hayachid, except where it is joined to the outside.
- A channel ten deep and four wide is a karmelis; below that, it is batel to the courtyard.
- A mechitza at the entry and the exit, with a submerged tefach, separates and permits.
- That mechitza must be made for the water; the courtyard wall alone does not help.
- A gap or an opening narrower than three: lavud, and no mechitza is required.
- A courtyard open to the sea: according to the extent of the breach and according to the gidudin.
For practice — according to the custom of one's community and under the ruling of a rav.
For further study
Level 3 — Synthesis: a structured summary, with memory markers, decision trees and rules of thumb.
Level 4 — Daat HaRav: the shitah of the Admur HaZaken (Shulchan Aruch HaRav).