## Sifrei Devarim Paragraph 229

###### Sifrei Devarim 229:1
[Sifrei Devarim 229:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/229:1)

(דברים כב ח) **כִּי תִבְנֶה בַּיִת חָדָשׁ**, אֵין לִי אֶלָּא בּוֹנֶה. לָקַח, יָרַשׁ, וְנִתַּן לוֹ בְּמַתָּנָה מִנַּיִן? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: **בַּיִת**, מִכָּל מָקוֹם.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
**Pisqa’ 229**¹¹²
1. “When you *build* a new house” (Dt. 22:8)—
**I might infer only that this rule**
**applies to one who *builds* a house.**
**How do I know that it applies as well to**
**one who buys, one who inherits**
**or one who receives it as a gift?**
**The Teaching states:**
**“A *house*” (Dt. 22:8)—**
**However [you may have acquired it].**¹¹³ 194.1.

footnotes:
¹¹² H:238-240; JN2:140-141.
¹¹³ Cf. Pisqa’


###### Sifrei Devarim 229:2
[Sifrei Devarim 229:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/229:2)

**לֹא תָשִׂים דָּמִים בְּבֵיתֶךָ**, אֵין לִי אֶלָּא בַּיִת. מִנַּיִן לְבוֹנֶה בֵּית הַתֶּבֶן, בֵּית הַבָּקָר, בֵּית הָעֵצִים, בֵּית הָאוֹצָרוֹת? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: **וְלֹא תָשִׂים דָּמִים בְּבֵיתֶךָ**.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
“Do not pour blood on your *house*” (Dt. 22:8)—
**I might infer only that this rule**
**applies specifically to a *residence* (*bayit*).**
**How do I know that it applies as well to**
**a storage shed for straw (*beit hateven),***
**a cattle-barn (*beit habaqar*), a wood-shed (*bet ha`eitzim),***
**or a silo (*bet ha‘otzarot*)*?***
**The Teaching states:**¹¹⁴ 194.1
“Do not pour blood on your *house*” (Dt. 22:8)—
[on whatever is sturdy enough to be called a “house”].

footnotes:
¹¹⁴ Continues Pisqa’


###### Sifrei Devarim 229:3
[Sifrei Devarim 229:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/229:3)

יָכוֹל אַף הַבּוֹנֶה בֵּית שַׁעַר אַכְסַדְרָה וּמִרְפֶּסֶת? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: **בַּיִת**, מָה בַּיִת מְיֻחָד, שֶׁהוּא בֵּית דִּירָה – יָצְאוּ אֵלּוּ, שֶׁאֵינָם בֵּית דִּירָה.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
**Well, is it possible to say that**
**this rule applies as well to one who builds**
**A gate house (*beit sha`ar*),**
**or an open-air portico, or a balcony?**
**The Teaching states:**
**“*House*” (Dt. 22:8)—**
**And just as a house is distinctive,**
**in being a residential space (*bet dirah*),**
**all these other structures are excluded,**
**for they have no residential space**.¹¹⁵

footnotes:
¹¹⁵ Continues to parallel 194.1 as above.


###### Sifrei Devarim 229:4
[Sifrei Devarim 229:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/229:4)

**וְעָשִׂיתָ מַעֲקֶה לְגַגֶּךָ**, אֵין לִי אֶלָּא גַּג. מִנַּיִן לְרַבּוֹת בּוֹרוֹת, שִׁיחִים, וּמְעָרוֹת, חֲרִיצִים וּנְעִיצִים? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: **וְלֹא תָשִׂים דָּמִים בְּבֵיתֶךָ**. אִם כֵּן לָמָּה נֶאֱמַר **גַּג**? פְּרָט לְכֶבֶשׁ. **בַּיִת** – לְרַבּוֹת הֵיכָל. **גַּג** – פְּרָט לָאוּלָם.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
2. “Then you shall build a railing for your *roof*” (Dt. 22:8)—
I might only infer that
this rule applies to the roof.
How do I know that
it includes as well [a requirement] to cordon off
cisterns, pits, cave-springs, crevasses and ditches?
The Teaching states:
“Do not pour blood on *your house*” (Dt. 22:8)—
[or any thing on your property].
If so, why does the verse specify the *roof*?
To exclude from this requirement
the Altar Ramp [which, at ten cubits in height, had no railing].¹¹⁶
And why does the verse specify a *house*? —
This is to include the Sanctuary under this rule.¹¹⁷) is called the Holy Abode (*beit hamiqdash*), i.e., a “house.”
*Roof*—
To exclude the Forecourt [adjacent to the Sanctuary].¹¹⁸

footnotes:
¹¹⁶ So M. Mid. 3:5.
¹¹⁷ So M. Mid.4:6. Thus the Sanctuary (heichal
¹¹⁸ So Mid. 4:7.


###### Sifrei Devarim 229:5
[Sifrei Devarim 229:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/229:5)

**חָדָשׁ**, רַבִּי אוֹמֵר: מִשְּׁעַת חִדּוּשׁוֹ עֲשֵׂה לוֹ מַעֲקֶה. כַּמָּה הוּא מַעֲקֶה? מַעְגִּילוֹ שְׁלֹשָׁה טְפָחִים, בֵּית דָּרְסוֹ עֲשָׂרָה.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
3. “A *new* house” (Dt. 22:8)—
Rabbi says:
while the house is still new, build a railing for it.
Now, what are the dimensions of the railing?
Where the roofers spread pitch,¹¹⁹
the height is a minimum of three handbreadths,
but along the walkway,
the height is at least ten handbreadths.

footnotes:
¹¹⁹ Cf. M. Mak. 2:1..


###### Sifrei Devarim 229:6
[Sifrei Devarim 229:6](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/229:6)

**וְעָשִׂיתָ מַעֲקֶה לְגַגֶּךָ** – מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה. **וְלֹא תָשִׂים דָּמִים בְּבֵיתֶךָ** – מִצְוַת לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
“Then you *shall build* a railing for your roof” (Dt. 22:8)—
this is a prescriptive commandment.
“*Do not* pour blood on your house” (Dt. 22:8)—
this is a proscriptive commandment.


###### Sifrei Devarim 229:7
[Sifrei Devarim 229:7](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/229:7)

**כִּי יִפֹּל הַנֹּפֵל מִמֶּנּוּ**, רָאוּי זֶה שֶׁיִּפּוֹל! אֶלָּא מְגַלְגְּלִים זְכוּת עַל יְדֵי זַכַּי וְחוֹבָה עַל יְדֵי חַיָּב.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
4. **“When the one *prone to falling* indeed falls *from it*” (Dt. 22:8)—**
**this guy must heave deserved a fall!**
**Actually, they ascribe merit**
**according to the deeds of the meritorious,**
**and guilt according to the deeds of the guilty.**¹²⁰

footnotes:
¹²⁰ //T. YK. 5:12. Cf. Sifre Nu., 114.


###### Sifrei Devarim 229:8
[Sifrei Devarim 229:8](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/229:8)

**מִמֶּנּוּ** – וְלֹא לְתוֹכוֹ; שֶׁאִם הָיָה רְשׁוּת הָרַבִּים גָּבוֹהַּ מִמֶּנּוּ עֲשָׂרָה טְפָחִים וְנָפַל מִמֶּנּוּ לְתוֹכוֹ – פָּטוּר, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: **מִמֶּנּוּ** וְלֹא לְתוֹכוֹ.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
“*From* it” (Dt. 22:8)—
[he fell *from* the roof, *downward* to the ground,]
but not *onto* the roof *from above* it.
For if a public domain was higher
than the roof by ten handbreadths,
and someone fell from there onto the roof—
the householder is exempt
from compensating the victim.
As it is said:
“*From* the roof” (Dt. 22:8)—
but not *onto it* from a space above it.


###### Sifrei Devarim 229:9
[Sifrei Devarim 229:9](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/229:9)

דָּבָר אַחֵר: **כִּי תִבְנֶה**, רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל אוֹמֵר: בָּא הַכָּתוּב לְלַמֶּדְךָ שֶׁאֵין אָדָם יוֹדֵעַ כֵּיצַד הוּא נִדּוֹן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (קהלת ט יב): ״כִּי לֹא יֵדַע הָאָדָם אֶת עִתּוֹ, כַּדָּגִים שֶׁנֶּאֱחָזִים בִּמְצוֹדָה״.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
5. Another word:
“*When* you build a new house” (Dt. 22:8).
R, Ishmael says:
The verse comes to teach you that
A person *never knows* how he will be judged.
As it is said:
“For a man *does not know* his allotted time, like a fish trapped in a net” (Ecc. 9:12).


###### Sifrei Devarim 229:10
[Sifrei Devarim 229:10](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/229:10)

**בַּיִת** מִכָּן אָמְרוּ: בַּיִת שֶׁאֵין בּוֹ אַרְבַּע עַל אַרְבַּע – פָּטוּר מִן הַמַּעֲקֶה וּמִן הַמְּזוּזָה וּמִן הָעֵרוּב, וְאֵין עוֹשִׂים אוֹתוֹ עִבּוּר לָעִיר, וְלֹא טִבּוּל לַמַּעַשְׂרוֹת, וְאֵין נוֹתְנִים לוֹ אַרְבַּע אַמּוֹת לְפִתְחוֹ; הַנּוֹדֵר מִן הַבַּיִת מֻתָּר לֵישֵׁב בּוֹ; וְאֵין מִטַּמֵּא בִּנְגָעִים, וְאֵין צָמִית בַּיּוֹבֵל, וְאֵין חוֹזְרִים עָלָיו מֵעֶרְכֵי הַמִּלְחָמָה.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
“A house” (Dt. 22:8)—
On this basis they taught:
A house that is not at least four cubits square
is exempt from the roof-railing,
and from the doorpost amulet,¹²¹ See Dt. 6:10.
and from [participation in] the blending of private domains.¹²²; literally, “the mixture of domains” that enables carrying between Jewish households in a shared courtyard on the Sabbath. Cf. M. Eruv.6:1ff.
And they do not use it
[to mark] an expansion of a city’s borders,¹²³
or to impose [upon produce] liability to the Tithe.¹²⁴
And they don’t consider the four cubits of its entrance
[as part of the contained space of the house].
Finally, one disavowing the comforts of home
is permitted to live within
[a house less than four cubits square].
But it does not contract uncleanness from plague-signs,¹²⁵
and it does not revert [to ancestral property] at the Jubilee year.¹²⁶
and warriors may not return to their homes on its account.¹²⁷

footnotes:
¹²¹ Heb: mezuzah.
¹²² Heb: ha`eruv
¹²³ The process of extending a city’s borders from a house beyond the established border is described in M. Eruv. 5:1-5.
¹²⁴ The role of the house or courtyard in establishing obligation to remove the Tithe from produce brought into t hat space is detailed at M. Maas.3:1, 5.
¹²⁵ Plague-signs in homes are discussed at Lv. 14:33ff. and M. Neg. 13:1-3.
¹²⁶ See Lv. 25:13-17.
¹²⁷ The material at 229.5 is lacking in several mss and editions. See F:262, n.5.