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Week 16 - Sunday - 12 March 2000

ERUVIN: CHAPTER 7 : MISHNA 4

If a person put on it a board that is four tefahs wide, and so also two balconies, this opposite this – they make two eruvs, and if they wish, they make one eruv; less than this – they make two eruvs and they may not make one eruv.

Kahati

This is the continuation of the preceding mishnah, teaching further rules regarding a trench between two courtyards that is ten tefahs deep and four wide.

If a person put on it – the trench that is between two courtyards, a board – a sort of bridge from one margin if the trench to the other, that is four tefahs wide – and affords easy passage from one courtyard to the other, then its legal status is that of a doorway and so also two balconies – which project into a mavoy or into the public domain, this opposite this – and the space between them is four tefahs; if a person put over them a board that is four or more tefahs wide, as a sort of bridge from one balcony to the other, they make two eruvs, and if they wish, they make one eruv – for the two of them. I.e., in either case, that of the two courtyards between which there is a trench four tefahs wide, or that of two balconies the space between which is four tefahs wide, and he placed over the trench, or over the two balconies, a board four tefahs wide, it is as a doorway, and they make two eruvs. If they wish, they make one eruv; if the width of the boards is - less than this – less than four tefahs, they make two eruvs – each courtyard or each balcony makes an eruv for itself, and they may not carry from one to the other, and they may not make one eruv – for the two of them, for since the board is narrow, people are afraid to pass over it; its legal status, therefore, is not that of a doorway, and it does not join the two courtyards or the two balconies

Another version of this mishnah reads as follows: "If a person put on it a board that is four tefahs wide – they make two eruvs , and if they wish, they make one eruv; less than four tefahs - they make two eruvs and the may not make one eruv, and similarly two balconies, this opposite this, (If a board four tefahs wide was put on them) they make two eruvs, and if they wish, they make one eruv; less than this - they make two eruvs, and if they wish, they may not make one eruv" (R. Yitzhak Alfasi and R. Yonatan of Lunel). We have interpreted the mishnah in this manner also in accordance with our version. The Tosafists, however, have another version for the last section of the mishnah, for they hold that the last section ("and so also two balconies") does not refer to the last case of the board placed over them, but rather teaches that if the width the space between two balconies is four tefahs, "they make two eruvs and they may not make one eruv" as in the case of the trench, but "less than this, "i.e., if the width of the space between the balconies is less than four tefahs, "they make two eruvs and if they wish, they make one eruv" since people step from one to the other (Tosafot, s.v., "Vekhen," Eruv. 78b).

ERUVIN: CHAPTER 7 : MISHNA 5

If a heap of straw between two courtyards is ten tefahs high – they make two eruvs and they may not make one eruv. These feed from here and these feed from here. If the straw was reduced to less than ten tefahs – they make one eruv and they may not make two eruvs.

Kahati

If a heap of straw between two courtyards – which separates them along their entire width, is ten tefahs high – it has the legal status of a wall (see 7:2, above); although it was taught, regarding the trench (7:3, above), that straw is not regarded as a closure, since the person will not abandon it and leave it there, the law differs when it is a partition, and as long as the heap of straw is not taken from there, it has the legal status of a wall, for anything which is fit to endure is used as a partition (Hameiri); therefore, they make two eruvs – each courtyard makes its own eruv, and they may not make one eruv – for the two courtyards, However, These feed – their cattle, from here – from the straw in the heap, and these feed from here – the Gemara explains that the inhabitants of the courtyard may not feed with their hands, for fear that they will reduce the straw until the heap no longer has the legal status of a partition, and they will restrict each other, without being aware of this; rather, they let their cattle feed, for in such case we do not fear that the height of the heap will decrease to less than ten tefahs, and invalidate the partition, for if it is not decreased by more that ten amot, the partition is not canceled for a breach of ten amot has the legal status of a doorway, and a beast does not eat so much on one Shabbat. If the straw – in the heap - was reduced – before the Shabbat - to – a height of - less than ten tefahs – they make one eruv – for the two courtyards, and they may not make two eruvs – for the partition has been invalidated, and they constitute one courtyard.

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