יט אילימא בדמלו גברי עסקינן וקא מבעיא ליה הלכתא כרבן גמליאל
19 and he will thus ascertain the height of the palm-tree.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The ratio of the height of the tree to the length of its shadow is in proportion to the ratio of the man's height to the length of his shadow.');"><sup>28</sup></span> If a man desires to prevent wild beasts from sheltering in the shadow of a grave [mound]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For fear lest the beast, by smelling the corpse, would disturb it (Rashi) .');"><sup>29</sup></span> let him insert a rod<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [This is probably the gnomon used by ancients to make astronomical measurements, v. Feldman W. M., op. cit., pp. 83 and 87].');"><sup>30</sup></span> [in the ground] during the fourth hour of the day<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' When it is hot in the sun and cool in the shade and beasts seek shelter from the former in the latter.');"><sup>31</sup></span> and observe in which direction its shadow inclines and then make [the mound] slope [from the ground] upwards<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Towards the sun, so that the top of the mound could cast no shadow on that side at that time of day (cf. previous note) .');"><sup>32</sup></span> and [from its top] downwards.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the opposite direction from which the sun shines, where again the mound could cast no shadow, since the entire slope on that sidle is exposed to the rays of the sun. Though the mound, at a later hour of the day, when the sun will be shining in the opposite direction, would be casting a shadow on the other side no wild beast is likely to seek shelter there at that late hour, because (a) the ground then is almost as hot in the shade as in the sun and (b) the beast who began to look for a shelter at the early fourth hour of the day would by that time have found one, so that in either case it would not return to the grave.');"><sup>33</sup></span> Nehemiah son of R'Hanilai was [once on a Sabbath day] absorbed in<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'drew him'.');"><sup>34</sup></span> an oral study and walked out beyond the Sabbath limit.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And was in consequence unable to return to town before the exit of the Sabbath.');"><sup>35</sup></span> 'Your disciple Nehemiah', said R'Hisda to R'Nahman, 'is in distress'.' Draw up for him', the other replied: 'a wall of human beings and let him re-enter'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Within the Sabbath limit. He would thus be in a position to return to town and to move about as freely as its other inhabitants.');"><sup>36</sup></span> R'Nahman B'Isaac was sitting behind Raba while the latter sat before R'Nahman when R'Nahman B'Isaac said to Raba: What exactly was the point that R'Hisda raised?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' When he addressed R. Nahman on Nehemiah's embarrassment.');"><sup>37</sup></span> If it be suggested that we are dealing [here with a case where the distance could be] fully lined with men<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Sc. a sufficient number of people had prepared their 'erubs that enabled them to walk to the spot where Nehemiah was stranded and to form two human walls, stretching from there to the Sabbath limit, between which Nehemiah could pass.');"><sup>38</sup></span> and that the point he raised was whether the halachah was in agreement with R'Gamaliel<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That a man may (cf. our Mishnah on a CATTLE-PEN etc.) walk any distance within an enclosed area though he was not within its walls at the time the Sabbath began.');"><sup>39</sup></span>