Does Rabbi Ḥanina say that wherever Rabbi Shimon Shezuri taught a halakha in our Mishna the halakha is in accordance with his opinion? Rather, he says that any place where he taught a halakha the halakha is in accordance with his opinion, and this applies even to baraitot.

§ Rav Ze’eira says that Rav Ḥananel says that Rav says: If a tear in the parchment of a Torah scroll extends into two lines, one can sew the parchment to render the scroll fit, but if it extends into three lines then one cannot sew it to render it fit. Rabba Zuti said to Rav Ashi: This is what Rabbi Yirmeya of Difti said in the name of Rava: That which we say, that if the tear extends into three lines one cannot sew it to render it fit, we say only with regard to old sheets of parchment. But in the case of new sheets of parchment, we have no problem with it.

The Gemara adds: And old does not mean literally old, and new does not mean literally new. Rather, those sheets of parchment that are not processed with gall are labeled as old and cannot be sewn, whereas those sheets of parchment that are processed with gall are labeled as new and can be sewn. And this statement, that one can sew the parchment and render it fit, applies to sewing it with sinew; but if one sews the parchment with thread [bigradin], it is not rendered fit.

Rav Yehuda bar Abba asks: If the tear occurred in the space between one column and another column but it was of the length that had it occurred inside a column it would have extended more than three lines, and similarly, if the tear occurred between one line and another line horizontally, but not tearing through any letters, what is the halakha? No answer was found, and therefore the dilemma shall stand unresolved.

§ Rabbi Ze’eiri says that Rav Ḥananel says that Rav says: A mezuza that one wrote two by two, i.e., two words on each line, is fit. A dilemma was raised before the Sages: If one wrote two words on one line, and three words on the following line, and one word on the line after that, what is the halakha? Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: All the more so that it is fit, as he prepared it as one writes a poem in the Torah scroll. The song sung by the Jewish people at the sea after the Exodus is written in lines whose length is not uniform. The Gemara raises an objection from a baraita: If one wrote it as one writes a poem in the Torah, or if one wrote a poem in the Torah as one writes it, it is unfit. The Gemara answers: When that baraita is taught, it is referring to a Torah scroll, not a mezuza.

It was stated by amora’im as well: Rabba bar bar Ḥana says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says, and some say it was Rav Aḥa bar bar Ḥana who says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: With regard to a mezuza that one prepared with two words on one line, and three words on the following line, and one word on the line after that, it is fit, provided that he does not prepare it like the shape of a tent, i.e., progressively widening the lines, starting with a line of one word, then a line of two words and a line of three, and provided that he does not prepare it like the shape of a tail, progressively shortening the lines, from three words to two to one.

§ Rav Ḥisda says: One writes the last two words of a mezuza, al ha’aretz, meaning “above the earth” (Deuteronomy 11:21), by themselves on the final line, without the preceding word. The Sages disagreed as to how this is done. Some say that one writes this phrase at the end of the final line, and some say that one writes it at the beginning of the final line.

The Gemara explains their dispute: The one who says that one writes it at the end of the final line interprets the verse: “That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heaven above the earth,” in a similar manner to the verse: “For as the heaven is high above the earth” (Psalms 103:11). Consequently, if one writes “above the earth” at the end of the final line, it will appropriately be below the term “the heaven” at the end of the previous line. And the one who says that one writes it at the beginning of the final line explains the phrase “as the days of the heaven above the earth” as meaning: Just as the heaven is far from the earth. Consequently, if one writes “above the earth” at the beginning of the final line, it is far from the term “the heaven” at the end of the previous line.

Rabbi Ḥelbo said: I saw Rav Huna wrap a written mezuza from the word eḥad to the word shema, i.e., rolling it from left to right, as the first verse written in a mezuza is: “Listen [Shema], O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one [eḥad]” (Deuteronomy 6:4). And he prepared the two passages of the mezuza in the closed manner, i.e., starting the second passage (Deuteronomy 11:13–21) on the same line that he finished writing the first passage (Deuteronomy 6:4–9).

The Gemara raises an objection from a baraita: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said: Rabbi Meir would write a mezuza on dokhsostos, the inner layer of animal hide, not on parchment, which is from the outer layer, and he would prepare it like a column of a Torah scroll, i.e., long and narrow.