- Miriam’s Well
Rebbe Chiya said that one who wants to see the Well of Miriam (בארה של מרים) should ascend to the top of Har HaCarmel and gaze out to the sea and he will see a boulder in the ocean shaped liked a sieve. That is the well.
Rav said that one can learn from the Well of Miriam that a portable well is tahor.
Rashi explains that we do not consider the well a vessel and the water that flows from it as drawn water (מים שאובין).
- Tzais hakochavim
A Baraisa introduces tzais hakochavim, an astronomical way to determine the beginning of night based on the stars coming out.
•One star in the sky means it is still day.
•Two stars in the sky signify bein hashemashos.
•Three stars in the sky signify night.
R’ Yose explains that the stars referred to are not large stars which are visible even by day, or small stars that are only visible later in the evening, but medium-sized stars.
Shofar blasts erev Shabbos
The Rabbis taught in a Baraisa, that it was the custom to blow six shofar blasts on erev Shabbos, spaced over time to prepare people for the arrival of Shabbos.
1. To stop people from working in the fields and give them enough time to get back to town before Shabbos.
2. To stop work in the city and shops.
3. R’ Nassan: To tell people to light the Shabbos lights.
R’ Yehudah HaNasi: To tell people to remove their tefillin. The fourth one was to light the Shabbos light.
After the third shofar blast the blower of the shofar would wait enough time to roast a small fish over the fire or attach bread to the wall to the oven to bake and then he would sound a tekiah, a teruah, and a tekiah, and then rest.
In Bavel they would blow two tekiahs first before blowing a teruah, and then rest.
