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1) DAMAGE DUE TO LOSS OF PRIVACY IS PROHIBITED

(a) Version #2: We are thinking that 'Mechitzah' means division, as in "Mechetzas ha'Edah";

1. Once the partners agree to divide, they must build a wall! This teaches that loss of privacy is considered damage.

(b) Question: Why not say that Mechitzah means wall, as in the following Beraisa?

1. (Beraisa): If the Mechitzah of a vineyard breaks, we tell the owner to repair it. If it breaks again, we tell him to repair it;

i. If he decided not to repair it, the grapes and grain become forbidden; he must pay for the grain.

2. Summation of question: The Mishnah says that they wanted to build a wall - if not, they could not force each other; this teaches that loss of privacy is not considered damage!

(c) Answer: If so, the Mishnah should have said 'they build it', not 'they build the wall'!
(d) Counter-question: But if Mechitzah means division - the Mishnah should have said 'that want to divide', not 'that want to make a division'!
(e) Answer: It is the way of people to say 'Come, let us make a division'!
(f) Question: If loss of privacy is considered damage - even if they don't want, they should be able to force each other!
(g) Answer (Rav Asi): The Mishnah refers to a small yard - they only divide if they want to.
(h) Question: Is the Chidush that they may divide if they want? Another Mishnah teaches that!
(i) (Mishnah): When the partners want, they may divide, even a small yard (or field...)
(j) Answer: One might have thought, a Mesifas suffices - our Mishnah teaches that they must build a proper wall.
(k) Question: Once we must teach our Mishnah, why do we need that Mishnah?
(l) Answer: The end of that Mishnah must teach partners in a Sefer (Torah, prophets or Kesuvim) may not split it, even if they want.
(m) Question: If our Mishnah refers to a small yard - even if they wanted to divide, they can always retract!
(n) Answer (Rav Asi): The case is, they made an acquisition committing themselves.
(o) Question: Such an acquisition, of words(where there is no transfer of ownership), is not binding!
(p) Answer #1: The acquisition was that Reuven will get the north half, Shimon the south half.
(q) Answer #2 (Rav Ashi): Each one made a Chazakah in his portion.

(a) (Mishnah): They build as the local custom, with Gevil, Gazis, Kefisin, and Levenim.
(b) Gevil are uneven stones; Gazis are even stones - "These are heavy stones, the size of Gazis"; Kefisin are half-bricks; Levenim are bricks.

1. Version #1 - Question (Rabah brei d'Rava): How do we know that Gevil are uneven stones, and the extra Tefach is because they jut out?
2. Perhaps they are half-stones; the extra Tefach is for plaster between the halves, just as we give one extra Tefach for half-bricks, for the plaster between the halves!
3. Counter-question (Rav Ashi): How do you know that Kefisin are half-bricks?
4. Answer: You must have a tradition for this - similarly, a tradition teaches that Gevil are uneven stones.
5. Version #2 - Question (R. Acha brei d'Rav Avya): How do we know that Kefisin are half-bricks, and the extra Tefach is for the plaster between the halves?
6. Perhaps they are uneven stones (Rashi - bricks); the extra Tefach is because they jut out, just as we give one extra Tefach for uneven stones!
7. Counter-question (Rav Ashi): How do you know that Gevil are uneven stones?
8. Answer: You must have a tradition for this - similarly, a tradition teaches that Kefisin are half-bricks.

(c) (Abaye): We learn from our Mishnah that a Tefach of plaster is needed between half-bricks.

1. Version #1: This is only regarding plaster - with Richsa (a cement of small stones and mud), more is needed.
2. Version #2: This is only regarding Richsa - with plaster, less is needed.

(a) Question: Is it really true that a four Amos wall must be five Tefachim wide to endure?

1. But the Traksin (the wall in the Hiechal between the Kodesh and Kodshei ha'Kodoshim) was 30 Amos tall and only six Tefachim wide, and it endured!

(b) Answer: The required width is not a fixed fraction of the height - six Tefachim suffices for 30 Amos.
(c) Question: Why was there no Traksin in the second Mikdash?
(d) Answer: Six Tefachim suffices for 30 Amos, not for more.
(e) Question: How do we know that the second Mikdash was taller than the first?
(f) Answer: "Gadol Yihyeh Kavod ha'Bayis ha'Zeh ha'Acharon Min ha'Rishon"
(g) (Rav or Shmuel): The height will be greater.

(h) (The other of Rav and Shmuel): It will last longer.

1. Both are true,

(i) Question: They should have made a wall of 30 Amos, and the rest a curtain!
(j) Answer: Six Tefachim suffices for 30 Amos only if the wall reaches a ceiling.
(k) Question: They should have made a wall as high as it can stand without a ceiling, and the rest a curtain!
(l) Answer (Abaye): A tradition teaches that the entire divider must be either a wall or a curtain.

1. The first Mikdash shows that a wall is permitted; the Mishkan shows that a curtain is permitted.

(m) Question: The thicknesses listed in the Mishnah - is this with the plaster or without it?
(n) Answer (Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak): Presumably, with - if without, the Mishnah should teach how much must be allotted for it!
(o) Rejection: Really, additional width must be given for the plaster; the Tana omitted it because it is less than a Tefach.
(p) Question: But regarding bricks, it teaches that each must give a Tefach and a half (the Tana did not omit the half Tefach)!
(q) Answer: A half Tefach for each neighbor is together a Tefach; the combined width for the plaster is less than a Tefach.
(r) Question (Mishnah): The beam (to permit carrying in an alley) must be wide enough to hold half a brick of three Tefachim. (This shows that the brick is three Tefachim without the plaster!)
(s) Answer: That Mishnah speaks of bigger bricks (that are a full three Tefachim); our Mishnah speaks of bricks that are three Tefachim with the plaster.

1. Support: That Mishnah says, a brick of three Tefachim, implying that there are smaller bricks.

(a) (Rav Chisda): We may not destroy a synagogue before building another one.
(b) Opinion #1: This is because we are concerned for negligence (they will not build a replacement).
(c) Opinion #2: This is because we need a place to pray until replacement is built.
(d) Question: What is the difference between these opinions?
(e) Answer: There already is another place to pray.
(f) In the area of Mereimar and Mar Zutra, they had one synagogue for summer (with much ventilation) and another for winter. They destroyed and rebuilt the summer one in winter, and the winter one in summer.
(g) Question (Ravina): If they already have money to build another, are we concerned for negligence?
(h) Answer (Rav Ashi): We are concerned that the money will (justifiably!) be used to redeem captives.
(i) Question (Ravina): If bricks and ceiling beams are ready to be assembled, are we concerned?
(j) Answer (Rav Ashi): We are concerned that they will have to be sold in order to redeem captives.
(k) Question (Ravina): If so, even if the new synagogue is built, we should be concerned that it will be sold to redeem captives!
(l) Answer (Rav Ashi): People do not sell residences (to redeem captives).

1. Rav Chisda's law is only if we do not see cracks - if we see cracks, we destroy and build.
2. Rav Ashi saw cracks in the synagogue of Masa Nachsiya - he destroyed it and moved his bed there (to make people zealous to build the new one) until (it was completed, even) the gutter pipe was installed.

(m) Question: (Bava ben Buta counseled Herod to destroy and rebuild the Mikdash) - according to Rav Chisda, this is forbidden!
(n) Answer #1: He saw cracks in it.
(o) Answer #2: (According to Opinion #1): We are not concerned that a king will reconsider.

1. (Shmuel): If the kingdom says it will uproot a mountain, it will do so, it will not retract.

(a) Herod was a slave of the Chashmonai kings; he desired a certain girl from the royal family. He heard a voice from Heaven saying 'Any slave that rebels today will succeed'. He killed all his masters, except for that girl. She understood that he intended to marry her; she went up to the roof, and proclaimed that she, the last true member of the house of Chashmonai, is about to kill herself; anyone claiming to be from the house of Chashmonai (i.e. Herod and his seed) is really a slave.
(b) Herod preserved her corpse in honey for seven years.

1. Version #1: This was to satisfy his lust with her body.
2. Version #2: This was to make people think that he had married her (to justify his claim to reign).

(c) Herod knew that Chachamim expound "Mi'Kerev Achecha you will appoint a king" (disqualifying himself), so he killed them; he only left Bava ben Buta, as a counselor.