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

Once the partners agree to divide, they must build a wall! This teaches that Hezek Re'iyah is considered damage.

Question: Perhaps Mechitzah means wall, as in the following Beraisa?

(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;

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

Summation of question: The Mishnah says that they wanted to build a wall. If not, they could not force each other. This teaches that Hezek Re'iyah is not considered damage!

Answer: If so, the Mishnah should have said 'they build it', and not 'they build the wall'!

Counter-question: If Mechitzah means division, the Mishnah should have said 'who want to divide', and not 'that want to make a division'!

Answer: It is the way of people to say 'come, let us make a division'!

Question: If Hezek Re'iyah is considered damage, even if they don't want, one should be able to force the other!

Answer (Rav Asi): The Mishnah refers to a small yard. They divide only if both want (for each half is small and not so useful).

Question: Is the Chidush that they may divide if they want? Another Mishnah teaches that!

(Mishnah): When the partners want, they may divide even a small yard (or field...)

Answer: One might have thought that a Mesifas suffices. Our Mishnah teaches that they must build a proper wall.

Question: Since we needed to teach our Mishnah, why do we need that Mishnah?

Answer: The end of that Mishnah teaches that partners in a Sefer (Torah, Nevi'im or Kesuvim) may not split it, even if they want.

Question: If our Mishnah discusses a small yard, even if they wanted to divide, they can always retract!

Answer (Rav Asi): The case is, they made a Kinyan committing themselves.

Question: A Kinyan, of words (there is no transfer of ownership) is not binding!

Answer #1: The Kinyan was that Reuven will get the north half, and Shimon will get the south half.

Answer #2 (Rav Ashi): Each one made a Chazakah in his portion.

(Mishnah): They build as the local custom, with Gevil, Gazis, Kefisin, and Levenim.

Gevil are uneven stones. Gazis are even stones - "these are heavy stones, the size of Gazis." Kefisin are half-bricks. Levenim are bricks.

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?

Perhaps they are half-stones, and the extra Tefach is for plaster between the halves, just like we give one extra Tefach for half-bricks, for the plaster between the halves!

Counter-question (Rav Ashi): How do you know that Kefisin are half-bricks?

Answer: You must have a tradition for this.

Answer (Rav Ashi): Similarly, a tradition teaches that Gevil are uneven stones.

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?

Perhaps they are uneven stones (Rashi - bricks); the extra Tefach is because they jut out, just like we give one extra Tefach for uneven stones!

Counter-question (Rav Ashi): How do you know that Gevil are uneven stones?

Answer: You must have a tradition for this.

Answer (Rav Ashi): Similarly, a tradition teaches that Kefisin are half-bricks.

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

Version #1: This refers only to plaster. With Richsa (a cement of small stones and mud), more is needed.

Version #2: This refers only to Richsa. With plaster, less is needed.

Question: A wall four Amos tall need not be five Tefachim wide to endure!

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

Answer: The required width is not a fixed fraction of the height. Six Tefachim suffice for 30 Amos.

Question: Why was there no Traksin in the second Mikdash?

Answer: Six Tefachim suffice for 30 Amos, but not for more. (The second Mikdash was taller.)

Question: How do we know that the second Mikdash was taller than the first?

Answer: "Gadol Yihyeh Kavod ha'Bayis ha'Zeh ha'Acharon Min ha'Rishon."

(Rav or Shmuel): The height will be greater.

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

Both are true.

Question: They should have made a wall of 30 Amos, and the rest a curtain!

Answer: Six Tefachim suffices for 30 Amos only if the wall reaches a ceiling.

Question: They should have made a wall as high as it can stand without a ceiling, and the rest a curtain!

Answer (Abaye): A tradition teaches that the entire divider must be either a wall or a curtain.

We learn from Bayis Rishon that a wall is permitted. We learn from the Mishkan that a curtain is permitted.

Question: Are the thicknesses listed in the Mishnah with the plaster, or without it?

Answer (Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak): Presumably, they are with. If they were without, the Mishnah would teach how much must be allotted for it!

Rejection: Really, additional width is needed for the plaster. The Tana omitted it because it is less than a Tefach.

Question: Regarding bricks, he taught that each must give a Tefach and a half! (He did not omit the half Tefach!)

Answer: When each neighbor gives a half Tefach, together there is a Tefach. The combined width for the plaster is less than a Tefach.

Question (Mishnah): The beam (to permit carrying in an alley) must be wide enough to hold half of a three-Tefachim brick. (No plaster is needed there. This shows that the brick is three Tefachim without the plaster!)

Answer: That Mishnah discusses bigger bricks (that are a full three Tefachim). Our Mishnah discusses bricks that are three Tefachim with the plaster.

Support: That Mishnah says 'a three-Tefachim brick.' This implies that there are smaller bricks.

(Rav Chisda): We may not destroy a synagogue before building another one.

Opinion #1: This is because we are concerned for negligence (lest they not build a replacement).

Opinion #2: This is because we need a place to pray until a replacement is built.

Question: What is the difference between these opinions?

Answer: They argue about a case in which there is already another place to pray.

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.

Question (Ravina): If they already have money to build another, are we concerned for negligence?

Answer (Rav Ashi): We are concerned lest the money be (justifiably!) used to redeem captives.

Question (Ravina): If bricks and ceiling beams are ready to be assembled, are we concerned?

Answer (Rav Ashi): We are concerned lest they be sold in order to redeem captives.

Question (Ravina): If so, even if the new synagogue is built, we should be concerned lest it be sold to redeem captives!

Answer (Rav Ashi): People do not sell residences (to redeem captives).

Rav Chisda's law applies only if we do not see cracks. If we see cracks, we destroy and build.

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, and even) the gutter pipe was installed.

Question: Bava ben Buta counseled King Herod (Hordus) to destroy and rebuild the Mikdash. According to Rav Chisda, this is forbidden!

Answer #1: He saw cracks in it.

Answer #2 (According to Opinion #1): We are not concerned lest a king reconsider.

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

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 who 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, and anyone claiming to be from the house of Chashmonai (i.e. Herod and his seed) is really a slave.

Herod preserved her corpse in honey for seven years.

Version #1: This was to satisfy his lust with her body.

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

Herod knew that Chachamim expound "mi'Kerev Achecha (amidst your brothers, i.e. someone born to a Bas Yisrael) you will appoint a king" (disqualifying himself), so he killed them. He only left Bava ben Buta, for a counselor.