[Avodah] simple eruv question

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Oct 23, 2020 at 12:36:51PM -0400, Sholom Simon via Avodah wrote:
> What's the difference between "gud asik" and "pi tikra yored v'soseim" ?

A gud asiq "pulling upward" an existing piece of wall that is near the
floor.

A gud akhis, which is what I think you meant, is "pulling downward" an
existing piect of wall that is near the top.

Pi tiqra is treating the end of a roof as defining the end of the space,
thereby implying a wall. So, gud akhis doesn't involve the space being
covered, and pi tiqra doesn't require the edge of the roof having a
"lip" for a gud akhis.

I recently answered on FB something about the "why" of all this. Since
we're touching the subject, I'll see what people here think.

Someone wrote:
    Has anyone read an article on why halacha operates with concepts
    outside of physical reality? For example the concepts of lavod,
    Barayrah, ...? Did surrounding cultures have these ideas (such as
    (legal) Halachic reality versus objective reality)?

My reply, drawing from a philosphy of halakhah that I posted about
here repeatedly:
    I would say, before dealing with your question, that you are looking
    at the wrong set of realia.

    Halakhah is a tool for refining people. Therefore its "facts" are
    human experiences, not objective realities. To take your example
    of lavud: If something is enough of a wall to feel like it defines
    a space, it defines a space. And if the soul / character shaping
    experience requires a defined space, feeling like you're "in"
    something, we wouldn't care about whether or not there is a gap in
    the wall.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 If a person does not recognize one's own worth,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   how can he appreciate the worth of another?
Author: Widen Your Tent                - Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye,
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                author of Toldos Yaakov Yosef