Eruvin Page C - Wise Question

By: Rabbi Lior Lavie

"Rabbi Bibi Bar Abi's problem: two amot in the roof and two amot in the ruin, what is it?

Rabbi Bibi Bar Abi asked a question on an issue studied in the Beit Midrash. Rabbi Kahana said to him: Isn't this exactly the question * Rami Bar Hama * that has been asked before ?!

Rabbi Bibi Bar-Abi said to him a phrase that means: "Do you think I just came to intervene in the question of others? There is no such thing, and the questions are not the same"! (And went on to explain the difference between the questions)

From the words of Rabbi Bibi Bar-Abi, we can learn an important principle for many discussions and debates. Honest listening to the different opinions will prevent us from repeating unnecessary arguments and things that have already been said. Thus it will not be an argument for the sake of an argument and a quarrel, but for the sake of clarifying the truth.