Commentary for Yevamot 29:18

ותנן עירוב מקואות כשפופרת הנוד בעובייה ובחללה כשתי אצבעות חוזרות למקומן שמע מינה עשו התם

Mar Zutra raised an objection: It once happened with Jehu's Trough in Jerusalem, which was connected by means of a hole with a ritual bathing pool,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] 'a gathering together', applied to a bath or pool containing forty se'ah of water, which is the prescribed minimum for a ritual bath. ');">⁴⁷</span> and in which<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The trough, though containing less than the required minimum, was rendered ritually fit through fusion with the larger pool by means of the connecting hole. ');">⁴⁸</span> all ritual cleansing in Jerusalem was performed, that Beth Shammai sent and had the hole widened; for Beth Shammai maintain that the greater part [of the intervening wall] must be broken through.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Mik. IV, 5. ');">⁴⁹</span> But we have also learned that the combination of bathing pools<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which renders the smaller one, containing less than the prescribed minimum, ritually fit. ');">⁵⁰</span> may be effected by a connecting tube of the size of the mouth-piece of a leather bottle in diameter and circumference,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'like the tube of a leather bottle in its thickness and hollow space'. ');">⁵¹</span> viz., a tube in which two fingers may conveniently be turned round.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Hag. 21b, Mik. VI, 7; lit., 'as two fingers returning to their place'. ');">⁵²</span> Does not this prove that they<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Beth Shammai. ');">⁵³</span> did act [in accordance with their rulings]?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since the original tube, according to Beth Hillel, was quite sufficient, and they had nevertheless ordered its extension. ');">⁵⁴</span> — There

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