Gittin 15

which is usually on the move, but in the case of a pot which is motionless it is not necessary. And again, perhaps the Rabbis would say that only in the boat [is there this obligation even if it is not touching bottom], since there is no air in between [the boat and the bottom], the water being reckoned as earth for purposes of contact, but not in the case of the pot where the air underneath breaks its contact with the earth. R. Nahman b. Isaac said: In regard to a boat on a river in Eretz Israel there is no difference of opinion between the authorities.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' All agreeing that a river in Eretz Israel is an integral part of the land. ');">¹</span>

Where the difference arises is in the case of a boat in the open sea, as may be seen from the following: What do we reckon as Eretz Israel and what do we reckon as foreign parts? From the top<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'Whatever slopes down.' ');">²</span>

of the Mountains of Ammanon<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Targum, Pseudo-Jonathan, of 'Hor the mountain', the northern boundary of Eretz Israel, Num. XXXIV, 7. [This is not to be confused with Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom which is in the South East. Mount Ammanon is in the N.W. of Syria and is generally identified with Mount Amanus, the modern Giaour Dagh.] ');">³</span>

inwards is 'Eretz Israel', and from the top of the Mountains of Ammanon outwards is 'foreign parts'. [For determining the status of] the islands in the sea, we imagine a line drawn from the Mountains of Ammanon to the Brook of Egypt.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Identified by Saadia with the Wady-el-Arish, twenty miles South of Gaza; v. Schwarz, op. cit. p. 27, and Rosenbaum-Silbermann's Rashi. Deut. p. 211.] ');">⁴</span>

All within the line belongs to Eretz Israel and all outside the line to foreign parts. R. Judah, however, holds that all islands fronting the coast of Eretz Israel are reckoned as Eretz Israel, according to the verse of Scripture, And for the western border, ye shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your west border.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XXXIV, 6. ');">⁵</span>

[To determine the status of] the islands on the border line,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., due west of the coast beyond the southern and northern extremities of the border of Palestine. ');">⁶</span>

we imagine a line drawn [due west] from Kapluria<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' At the northern extremity of Mount Hor. [The place is not identified. V. Neubauer, pp. 8ff. and 433.] ');">⁷</span>

to the Ocean<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Atlantic Ocean. ');">⁸</span>

and another from the Brook of Egypt to the Ocean. All within these lines belong to Eretz Israel and all outside to foreign parts. How do the Rabbis expound the superfluous words, 'and for the border'? They say it is required to [bring in] the islands.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Immediately fronting the coast. ');">⁹</span>

And R. Judah? — He will rejoin that for the inclusion of the islands no special indication is required.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And the words 'and for the border' include the more distant islands. ');">¹⁰</span>

R. MEIR SAYS: ACCO IS IN THE SAME CATEGORY AS ERETZ ISRAEL etc. The following inquiry was propounded to R. Hiyya b. Abba: If a man sells his slave into Syria,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Biblical Aram Zoba which was conquered by David and added by him to Eretz Israel (II Sam. VIII). ');">¹¹</span> is he reckoned as selling him into foreign parts or not? — He replied: You have learnt it: R. MEIR SAYS: ACCO IS IN THE SAME CATEGORY AS ERETZ ISRAEL IN RESPECT OF BILLS OF DIVORCE; in respect of bills of divorce, that is, but not in respect of slaves. And if this is the case with Acco, how much more so with Syria, which is much further from Eretz Israel. Our Rabbis have taught: 'In three respects Syria is in the same category as Eretz Israel and in three others in the same category as foreign parts.' (Mnemonic: <i>'AB BoR ReK</i>).<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'Cloud, Pit, Empty'. Key-words to aid the memory made up of Hebrew initials of the rulings that follow. ');">¹²</span> Its earth is unclean like that of foreign parts, and to sell a slave to Syria is like selling him to foreign parts, and a Get brought from Syria is reckoned as one brought front foreign parts. [On the other hand,] it is in three respects like Eretz Israel: It is subject to the obligations of tithe and Sabbatical year like the Land of Israel, it is permissible for an Israelite to enter it in a state of ritual purity, and a field bought in Syria