Bava Batra 101: Catacomb Construction

Today's daf outlines different interpretations of catacomb design.  The Mishna suggested a number of ways in which catacombs might be built, ensuring that guidelines about the distances between each coffin were met.  Most of the designs allow for thirteen bodies to be buried.  The entrances always open onto a courtyard, which is higher than the rest of the site.  From the courtyard one can enter different chambers, and from each chamber there are 'niches' available to house the bodies.  

The rabbis are clear that one must never be able to walk on top of the dead.  Further, in at least one of the designs, there are two niches which are very small and would not allow for the minimum requirement of space between bodies.  The rabbis wonder if these were intended for newborn infants who would require very little space.  No guidelines would be broken.

It is interesting that the rabbis went to the effort of designing more than one catacomb.  Why not simply go with the first design?  We would never know exactly what was intended through the Mishna's description. Why bother attempting to capture every possible option?  The rabbis were creative, brilliant, learned, and curious.  They poured those traits into their study.  It was never enough to learn just one option or one interpretation.  That was not the tradition of Jewish study, and that was not the best way to develop halachot.  

The Jewish tradition continues to value generating options, inspiring debate, and allowing curiosity to guide our learning.