Boards for water and rope for caravan, and Chananya says rope for water but not boards (...for caravan?)
Is it possible to say that Chananya is saying BOTH boards and rope for water and ONLY rope for caravan ( or rope for BOTH water and caravan and ONLY boards for water) ( or rope can ALSO be used for water but boards cannot also be used for caravan)? gedaliah
The general rule is that a Mechitzah with ropes is better than a Mechitzah made of boards, because with boards, there is more open area than fenced area (Parutz Merubah Al ha'Omed; see Insights 17b).
Therefore, it is clear that according to Chananyah, both a water pit and a caravan require ropes and it is not sufficient to erect boards. However, ropes alone are enough. They are better than boards since they form a complete Mechitzah of 10 Tefachim, through Lavud.
M. KORNFELD