Lest you fear that the Talmud is not comprehensive in its coverage of all conceivable situations we may find ourselves on Shabbat, today’s Daf covers cases of when we throw a sticky fig at a wall, above a certain height, below a lesser height and between the two. Also, if we throw the sticky fig in a crevice or in a nook, in a crevice inside a house or outside a house. I believe all of you fig throwers will have all of your possible questions answered in today’s Daf.

Let’s remember how we got here. Yesterday, we delineated four possible domains: (i) the public domain; (ii) the private domain; (iii) the Karmelis (a semi-public space that is biblically not public, but treated as public by the Rabbis); and (iv) exempt areas. Today we look at the interfaces between various domains so we can exactly determine where one domain ends and another begins.

The consummate private domain is a single-family home. It has four walls, encloses enough space for some one to live in and presumably tall enough (we will come back to this point). What about a large, enclosed non-residential space – think large airplane hangar. The space is not really residential, but it is enclosed. The Rabbis conclude that biblically it is a private domain, but they add some Rabbinic decrees because of its somewhat public nature.

The Rabbis are next troubled by the description of a Karmelis. Yesterday, the list of areas considered a Karmelis included (A) the sea, (B) an area of open fields, (C) a storefront bench area, and (D) a Karmelis. The last example is very self-referential and the Rabbis want to know why. The conclusion is that the listed Karmelis is a nook between houses, kind of public, but not really accessed by the public. And now we are off to the races. We consider all kinds of areas that are ancillary to a public or private domain. We consider the area between pillars in a public plaza. And then . . . we discuss the rules for throwing plump figs at walls and they stick. This last case is especially troubling because we need a setting down in a new domain to complete the act of carrying. The smashed fig is resting on a wall. Is that setting down?

To resolve this sticky mess (pun intended), we learn that airspace more than 10 Tefachim (about three feet) above a public space is an exempt area. Anything less than thee Tefachim above a public domain is considered on the ground. A private domain, however, extends up into infinity. A Karmelis follows the airspace rules of a public domain. Also, most Rabbis require the object to be on a space of at least four Tefachim or there is no lifting or placing down. We also consider a house that the interior ceiling only extends to nine Tefachim but the exterior roof is at ten Tefachim. We talk a lot about crevices. All agree that crevices in a private domain are private. Crevices in a public domain are subject to heated debate.

Shabbat will be starting in a few hours. If you want to be observant and throw figs this weekend, please review today’s Daf before you make any mistakes.