We also learn from Rav Avdimi bar Chama [that one must make Simanim for Torah].

Question: What do we learn from "Lo va'Shamayim Hi...; V'Lo me'Ever la'Yam Hi"?

Answer #1 (Rav Avdimi bar Chama): If Torah would be in Shamayim or across the sea, we would be obligated to go there to pursue it. (The verse continues "... Leimor Mi Ya'aleh Lanu ha'Shamaimah va'Yikacheha Lanu." This teaches that we spare no efforts to learn Torah.)

Answer #2 (Rava): Torah is not found in one who is haughty about it like Shamayim (he thinks that he does not need to learn from a Rebbi), nor one who is confident about it [that he will remember without reviewing - Maharsha] like the sea.

Answer #3 (R. Yochanan): Torah is not found in haughty people, nor in wholesalers [who cross the sea] or merchants.

(Beraisa) Question: How are we Me'abar a city?

Answer: If it is long, we leave it like it is. If it is circular, we give it corners [to make it square]. If it is square, we do not give it corners. (This will be explained. 'Squaring' means making rectangular, but not necessarily square.)

If one side is wider than the other, we consider it as if they were even.

If one or two houses jut out, we consider a line to be drawn between them, and we measure 2000 Amos from it;

If the city is shaped like an [archer's] bow or [the Greek letter] Gamma (an 'L' shape), we consider it as if it (the hollow part) was full of houses and Chatzeros, and we measure 2000 Amos from them.

Question: The Beraisa says that if it is long, we leave it like it is. This is obvious!

Answer: The case is, it is long and thin. One might have thought that we make it square. The Beraisa teaches that we do not.

Question: The Beraisa says that if it is square, we do not give it corners. This is obvious!

Answer: The case is, it is square, but the sides are not aligned like [the four directions of] the world (north-south and east-west, rather, they are at an angle, e.g. northwest-southeast and northeast-southwest);

One might have thought that we add corners to align it. The Beraisa teaches that we do not. (See Perush Chai diagram, Perek 5 number 12, in the English Charts section.)

(Beraisa): If one or two houses jut out...

Question: If we extend the Techum due to one house, there is no need to say that we do so due to two!

Answer: The case is, they stick out in different directions;

One might have thought that we extend in one direction for one house, but not in two directions. The Beraisa teaches that this is not so.

(Beraisa): If the city is shaped like a bow or Gamma, we consider it as if it was full of houses and Chatzeros, and we measure 2000 Amos from them. (Rashba - we complete the Gamma to be a full square, and not just what is inside the diagonal.)

(Rav Huna): If a city is shaped like a bow:

If the ends are separated by 4000 Amos, we measure from the bow. (See Perush Chai diagram, Perek 5 number 30, in the English Charts section. Rashi - each house measures from its door. Rosh - we measure from the place where the sides of the city are 4000 Amos apart);

If they are less than 4000 Amos apart (the Techumim of the ends overlap, we consider it to be full of houses), we measure from the Yeser (the line between the ends of the bow).

Question: Elsewhere, Rav Huna does not allow so far between ends!

(Rav Huna): The wall of the city may be breached 141 and a third Amos (twice the Shi'ur of a Karfef, i.e. 70 Amos and a fraction, and it is still considered one city. If it is more than this, it is considered two cities.)

Answer (Rabah bar Ula): If it is breached from one side, up to 4000 Amos are allowed. If it is breached from two sides, up to 141 [and a third] are allowed.

Question: Does Rav Huna teach that we allow a Karfef for each city? He already taught this elsewhere!

(Mishnah - R. Meir): We give [70 Amos and a fraction for] a Karfef to a city;

Chachamim say, we give a Karfef only between two cities.

(Rav Huna): Two Karfifos are given for two cities;

(Chiya bar Rav): We give only one Karfef.

Rav Huna needs to teach both of these;

Had he taught only here, one might have thought that we give two Karfifos because they were originally one city, but otherwise we give only one;

Had he taught only there, one might have thought that we give two Karfifos because they are truly two cities and they require more space, but when the wall of one city is breached, one Karfef suffices.

Question: (When the ends are less than 4000 apart and we measure from the Yeser.) What is the maximum distance between the [middle of the] bow and the [middle of the] Yeser?

Answer #1 (Rabah bar Rav Huna): We allow 2000 Amos.

Answer #2 (his son Rava): We allow more than 2000 Amos. (Tosfos - Rava holds that we measure from the Yeser if the ends are less than 4000 Amos apart or if the Yeser is within 2000 of the bow.)

(Abaye): Presumably, Rava is right, for one may go [anywhere within the bow] via houses. (He is always within 2000 Amos of houses on the sides of the bow.)

(Mishnah): Gedudiyos 10 tall [extend the city].

Question: What is a Gedudiyah?

Answer (Rav Yehudah): It is three walls without a roof.

Question: What is the law if there are two walls with a roof?

Answer (Beraisa): The following become part of the Ibur only if they have a place of Dirah:

(Aruch - a Nefesh (monument over a grave) that is four by four Amos,) a bridge, and a cemetery;

A Beis ha'Keneses with a place of Dirah for the overseer, and a house of idolatry with a place of Dirah for the priest;

Stables and storehouses in the field;

The following [are places of Dirah, so they always] become part of the Ibur - (Rashi - a Nefesh (a watchman's quarters over a grave,) shacks in the field and houses [on islands] in the sea.

The following do not become part of the Ibur - a Nefesh that was breached on two sides;

A pit, cave, and fence;

A dovecote in the field and a house on a boat.

Suggestion: It says that a Nefesh breached on two sides is not included. This is [even] if it has a roof!

Rejection: No, it has no roof.

Question: What use is a house in the sea?

Answer (Rav Papa): It is used to store Kelim from boats.

Question: A cave becomes part of the Ibur!

(R. Chiya - Beraisa): A cave becomes part of the Ibur.

Answer (Abaye): The Beraisa discusses a cave with a building at its opening.

Question: If so, it is part of the Ibur due to the building! (It is misleading to say that the cave becomes part of the Ibur.)

Answer: If the building is too small (less than four by four), the cave completes the Shi'ur.

(Rav Huna): If one dwells in a [temporary] hut, his Techum is 2000 Amos from the opening of his hut. (Even if there are other huts nearby, we do not consider the extent of the huts like a city, and say that it counts like only four Amos.)

Question (Rav Chisda): [It says about Machaneh Yisrael] "va'Yachanu Al ha'Yarden mi'Beis ha'Yshimos (Ad Avel ha'Shitim)." Rabah bar bar Chanah saw this place. It was three by three Parsa'os;

(Beraisa): One may not eliminate in front of or to the side of Machaneh Yisrael [lest the cloud and Aron will go in that direction], only in back. (Therefore, people who camped in the front had to walk three Parsa'os. If we measure from each person's tent, this is 12 times the Techum of 2000 Amos! The question is not so clear, because all agree that the Techum of 2000 Amos is only mid'Rabanan. See note 20 in Appendix.)

Answer (Rava): You cannot learn from the encampment in the Midbar. Since it says "Al Pi Hash-m Yachanu v'Al Pi Hash-m Yisa'u", their dwellings were considered Kavu'a (fixed).

(R. Chinena bar Rav Kahana): If there are three Chatzeros, and each has at least two houses, this is Kavu'a.

(Rav Yehudah): People who dwell in huts (they graze flocks, and relocate when the pasture is consumed) or traverse wildernesses lack [a decent] life. Their [wives'] children are not [necessarily] their own.

Support (Beraisa - Eliezer Ish Biriya): Hut dwellers are like dead people. Regarding their daughters it says "Arur Shochev Im Kol Behemah." (Maharsha - we merely show that their life is indecent. Rashi - the verse alludes to adultery.)

Question: What is the reason?

Answer #1 (Ula): They do not have baths. (Rashi - when the men go far away to bathe, others come to be with their wives.)

Answer #2 (R. Yochanan): Women tell each other when it is time to immerse after being Nidah. (Rashi - they accompany each other when going [far away] to immerse. Resha'im hear them, and are isolated with them.)

Question: What is the difference between these answers?

Answer: They argue in a case when there is a river nearby. (It allows covert immersion, but it is not proper for bathing.)

(Rav Huna): A Chacham may not live in a city without vegetables (Rashi - they are inexpensive and good to eat, and thereby enable people to engage in Torah. Sanhedrin 17b - R. Akiva requires a Chacham to live in a city with Pira (produce), for it enlightens the eyes.)

Question: A Beraisa teaches that vegetables are bad!

Three things increase excrement, bend a person's stature and remove one part in 500 of his eyesight - coarse bread, new beer and vegetables.