Commentary for Avodah Zarah 74:14
תניא נמי הכי ר' יהודה אומר קורות נעץ להם ואמר עד כאן רשות הרבים עד כאן רשות היחיד כי אתו לקמיה דרבי ינאי אמר להו הא מיא בשיקעתא דבנהרא זילו טבולו:
It was also taught in a baraita: R. Judah says: [Yose b. Yo'ezer] stuck stakes [int he ground] for the people, declaring, “Up to here is a public domain and up to there a private domain.” When persons came in front of R. Yannai, he used to tell them, “There is plenty of water in the depth of the river; go and immerse yourselves.”
Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
This baraita demonstrates that Yose b. Yo’ezer took efforts to define the public and private domains. The assumption is that this was in order to delineate when doubtful cases of impurity are treated as impure—in the public domain they are not, and in the private domain they are.
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Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
According to Rashi people used to come in front of R. Yannai and ask him about cases of doubtful impurity in the public domain. He would tell them to go immerse in the deep waters of the river, as if to say, “what’s so hard about that?”
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