Pisqa’ 229¹¹²

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?

“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’

“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’

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?

“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.

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.

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..

“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.

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.

“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.

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).

“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.