יז אלא היכי עביד אמר שמואל משמיה דלוי
17 [discoursing] before R'Joseph intended to reply: To the extent of thirteen cubits and a third, [this being deduced] a minori ad majus from [the law relating to] enclosures<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'strips', 'boards'.');"><sup>40</sup></span> round wells:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. infra 17b.');"><sup>41</sup></span> If [in the case of] enclosures round wells, where [the use of the wells]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' on the Sabbath.');"><sup>42</sup></span> is permitted even though the broken [portions of the enclosure] exceed the standing ones, no [break] wider than thirteen cubits and a third is permitted, how much more reason is there that no [opening] wider than thirteen cubits and a third should be permitted [in the case of] an alley [the use of] which is not permitted where its broken portions exceed the standing ones. But [in fact] this [very law]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Of wells' enclosures.');"><sup>43</sup></span> provides [ground for all argument to the contrary]: [in the case of] enclosure of wells, where [the use of the wells] was permitted even if the broken [portions of an enclosure] exceeded the standing ones, no [gap] wider than thirteen cubits and a third could well be permitted,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Had this been permitted hardly any enclosure would have remained.');"><sup>44</sup></span> [but in the case of] an alley, [the use of which] is not permitted where the broken portions [of its walls] exceeded their standing ones<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So that the greater part of the alley is adequately enclosed.');"><sup>45</sup></span> [an opening] wider than thirteen cubits and a third may well be permitted. Or else, [the argument might run] in another direction: [As regards] enclosures of wells, since the law was relaxed in one respect,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The broken portions may exceed the standing ones.');"><sup>46</sup></span> it could also be relaxed in another,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A gap up to thirteen cubits and a third was also allowed.');"><sup>47</sup></span> [but as regards] an alley no [opening wider than ten cubits may have been allowed] at all.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' No deduction from the law of enclosures of wells may consequently be made.');"><sup>48</sup></span> Levi learned: If [an entrance to] all alley was twenty cubits wide a reed may be inserted in the center of i and this is sufficient.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To convert it into a valid entrance.');"><sup>49</sup></span> He himself has learnt it and he himself said that the halachah is not in agreement with that teaching.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because the empty space on both sides of the reed annuls the existence of the reed.');"><sup>50</sup></span> Some there are who read: Samuel laid down in the name of Levi that the halachah was not in agreement with that teaching.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because the empty space on both sides of the reed annuls the existence of the reed.');"><sup>50</sup></span> How, then, does one proceed?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In reducing the width of an entrance.');"><sup>51</sup></span> - Samuel replied in the name of Levi: