Bava Basra 60 is the last daf of Chezkas Habatim and draws together issues of the use of common areas with aggadita on the Churban. I would like to spend a few moments discussing some points our daf yomi group found interesting tonight.
The second mishna on 60a discusses whether a person who owns property which abuts the public domain (rishus harabim) can have projections from his building into the public domain. The mishna states unequivocally that the public areas cannot be impeded, but that a person can tear down part of his building and then rebuild it in deeper within his property, thus allowing for a protrusion without reaching the public domain.
The gemara then asks on 60b, what happens if the person made the suggested reduction and then never built the protrusion? The Rashbam elaborates on the question - does this mean that he has lost the power to do so at present as the public has now taken over this portion of the property?
Since my group tonight was half lawyers, we recalled the story told in law school about a particular street in Rockefeller Center which is closed one day a year so that it does not become a "public street."
Later on 60b, the gemara takes on a three weeks' tone in discussing various acts which are zecher l'churban. These include ashes on the forehead of the groom, leaving a square amah near the door of the home unfinished and not completing meal preparations (although I know of no one who ever made casa d'harsana).
As part of this discussion, the gemara recounts a story involving R' Yehoshua and a group of people who decided that they would take on additional restrictions of never eating meat or drinking wine as their own zecher l'churban. R' Yehoshua talked them out of this by showing them they would have nothing to subsist on, since bread is made of flour and flour was offered in the beis hamikdash and water would also be banned since there were water libations.
Tosafos (d'h Mayim) asks why the people did not answer R' Yehoshua that they could drink water from cisterns as only mayim chayim was used in the Temple. Tosafos answers that any thing which was the same kind as the item used in the Temple would have fallen within this prohibition, for if not, the people would have been able to drink yayin mevushal and this was one of the first things that they prohibited to themselves.
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