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Shabbos 157

1) HALACHAH: MUKTZAH

The Gemara discusses the final ruling with regard to Muktzah.

(a) Muktzah Machmas Mi'us (the object is repulsive): We rule in accordance with Rebbi Shimon that such objects are permitted and are not Muktzah.

(b) Muktzah Machmas Isur (the object could not be handled at Bein ha'Shemashos without the person transgressing a prohibition of Shabbos): TOSFOS (19b and here) says that we are also lenient like Rebbi Shimon with regard to this type of object *unless* the person *actively* put the object in a situation in which it could not be handled Bein ha'Shemashos.

The ROSH and TUR, however, do not mention such a condition, and simply rule that Muktzah Machmas Isur is forbidden in accordance with Rebbi Yehudah.

(c) Muktzah Machmas Chisaron Kis, and Grogeros v'Tzimukin (objects that a person actively put into a situation where they would be unfit to be used for Shabbos): Even Rebbi Shimon agrees that these objects are Muktzah.

157b

OPINIONS: The Mishnah mentions an incident in which a certain type of pitcher was tied to a type of reed-string in order to measure the opening of a barrel on Shabbos. The Gemara explains that the Mishnah is referring to a case where a small "Hilketi" was separating between two houses and there was the Tum'ah of a Mes there.

What exactly is a "Hilketi" and what measurements were made regarding the Tum'ah in this case?

(a) RASHI explains that a Hilketi is an alley between two houses. A cracked barrel rested above the alley, supported by the walls of the two houses on either side of the alley, and it formed the ceiling of the alley. A Mes (or rather, a part from a Mes the size of a k'Zayis) was lying in the alley directly under the cracked barrel.

The crack was measured in order to determine whether its width was one Tefach, which would let the Tum'ah of the Mes go straight up and out without conveying Tum'ah to the houses on each side of the alley through their windows. If the hole in the barrel was less than a Tefach, the Tum'ah would be prevented from exiting and it would spread throughout the entire area in the alley underneath the barrel, going through the windows into the houses.

However, Rashi asks that this does not seem to be consistent with the Mishnah in Ohalos that states that even if the crack above Tum'as Mes is less than a Tefach wide, the Tum'ah nevertheless exits through the crack and does not spread beneath the Ohel.

(b) TOSFOS says that the Mes in the alley was lying under the solid part of the barrel and not under the crack in the barrel. The question was whether the crack, which extended across the entire length of the barrel, prevented the Tum'ah from passing to the other side of the barrel, from where it would continue through the windows into the houses.

This is consistent with the Mishnah in Ohalos that says that if there is a one- Tefach-wide break in the ceiling, Tum'ah does not spread from one side to the other across the break, but if the crack is less than a Tefach then the Tum'ah does spread to the other side of the crack.

(c) RABEINU CHANANEL and the ARUCH explain that a Hilketi is a natural mound which forms the wall between two houses. It is not an alley at all. A Mes was in one house and there was a cracked barrel in a window in the mound/wall (the Hilketi) between the two houses. The barrel was measured in order to determine whether the barrel's opening was as large as a Tefach, in which case the Tum'ah would spread to the other house, or whether it was less than a Tefach and the Tum'ah was confined.