Torah Community Connections

Week 16 - Thursday - 16 March 2000

ERUVIN: CHAPTER 8 : MISHNA 1

How does a person participate in tehumin? He sets down the cask and he says, "This is for all the people on my town, for anyone who will go to a house of mourning or to a house of feasting." And anyone who accepted during the day – permitted. After nightfall – prohibited, for one may not make an eruv after nightfall.

Kahati

If many of the inhabitants if a town want to go on the Shabbat to a place beyond the Shabbat bounds, one person may set down an eruv tehumin on behalf of all of them. If he sets down his own food, he must confer possession in them through another person, as taught regarding shituf in a mavoy (7:6, above). This eruv tehumin that one sets down on behalf of many, which is called shituf (a partnership) of tehumin, is the subject of this mishnah.

How does a person participate in tehumin? - How does a person include others in his eruv tehumin? He sets down the cask – of wine, oil or produce, where he wants to establish his Shabbat station. This as well as mishnah 7:6 speaks of "cask" because it was customary to put all their produce in a cask (Tosafot) and he says, "This - eruv - is for all the people on my town – who want to go on the Shabbat in this direction beyond the Shabbat bounds, for anyone who will go to a house of mourning – to console a mourner or to a house of feasting" – a wedding feast or another feast in connection with a mitzvah. The mishnah used these examples to teach that eruvei tehumin are made only for the purpose of a mitzvah (see Tosefot Yom Tov). And anyone who accepted – on Shabbat eve, during the day – to rely on this eruv, in order to go, on the Shabbat, beyond the Shabbat bounds, is – permitted – to go. After nightfall – he is – prohibited – to go beyond the Shabbat bounds, for one may not make an eruv after nightfall

The Gemara explains that the wording of the mishnah, "anyone who accepted." Is not to be meant literally, but that whoever was informed during the day that an eruv tehumin had been set down for all the people of the town is permitted to go beyond the Shabbat bounds eve n if he accepted to rely upon this eruv only after nightfall. The reason for this is because regarding eruvei tehumin, we say that "there is bererah [retrospective designation]," i.e., the matter has become verified retroactively, that from the time that this became known to him, he consented to this eruv. If however, he was not informed until after nightfall, he may not go beyond the Shabbat bounds on the basis of this eruv, for since he did not know about the eruv during the day, the law of bererah does not apply. Even if his fellow acquired for him rights in the eruv, this is not effective, for the eruv tehumin may be made on behalf of a person only with his knowledge, for he may not wish to make an eruv in the direction that the others have made for him.

ERUVIN: CHAPTER 8 : MISHNA 2

What is the quantity? Food of two meals for each one. His food on weekdays and not on the Shabbat; so Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehudah says: On the Shabbat and not on the weekdays. And this one and this one intended to be lenient. Rabbi Yohanan ben Beroka says: From a loaf for a pundion, from four se'ahs for a se'ah. Rabbi Shimon says: Two thirds of a loaf from three to the kav. Half of it for a leprous house and half of its half to render the body unfit.

– when four se'ahs of wheat are sold for one se'ah. 4 se'ahs = 24 kavs (1 se'ah = 6 kavs) 1 sela = 48 pundions. One kav is therefore sold for two pundions, and the loaf that is sold for one pundion is baked from ½ a kav of wheat (as the volume of 12 eggs). The Gemara explains, however that half of this must be deducted to cover the storekeeper's expenses of grinding and baking, and the payment for his services. Consequently, the quantity.

Rabbi Shimon says: Two meals are - Two thirds of a loaf from three to the kav – when three loaves are baked from one kav, i.e., one loaf is made from 1/3 kav (the volume of 8 eggs), and 2/3 of a loaf (as the measure of 5 1/3 eggs), is the food of the two meals of the eruv. Rabbi Shimon is lenient, and his measure is less than that of Rabbi Yohanan ben Beroka by 2/3 of an egg (for according to Rabbi Yohanan ben Beroka the quantity of two meals is 6 eggs, while according to Rabbi Shimon it is 5 1/3 eggs.) Half of it – of this loaf, according to which we estimate the two meals of the eruv, is the measure - for a leprous house – a person who enters a house inflicted with the plague of leprosy (tzara'at) becomes unclean immediately, but he is not required to wash his clothes unless he remained in it the time necessary for eating, as it is written, in the Torah section on tzar'at afflicted houses, "and he that eats in the house shall wash his clothes" (Lev. 14:47). The Sages learned from this that only if a person stayed in the house a length of time needed for eating, is required to wash his clothes. And the time is long enough "to eat a peras", i.e., ½ a loaf. The mishnah teaches that according to Rabbi Yohanan ben Beroka (who holds that a whole loaf is ¼ a kav [=the volume of 6 eggs]), the volume of the "eating of a peras" is 3 eggs; and according to Rabbi Shimon (who holds that a loaf is from 1/3 a kav [=8 eggs]), the volume of the "eating of a peras" is 4 eggs. Regarding the eruv, Rabbi Shimon is lenient and estimating the quantity of scanty meals, requiring only 2/3 of a loaf for the quantity of the two meals of the eruv the quantity of each meal being only 2 and 2/3 eggs; regarding all other laws, however, Rabbi Shimon holds that the "eating of a peras" is the quantity of one complete meal, i.e., a minimum of half a loaf of one third of a kav, i.e., 4 eggs;and half of it's – of this loaf's, half – is the measure - to render the body unfit – of a person who eats the quantity of ½ a peras of unclean foods unfit to eat terumah until he immerses. This is by Rabbinic injunction, for by Torah law unclean food does not make a person unclean. The mishnah teaches that, according to Rabbi Yohanan ben Beroka, "1/2 a peras" equals 1 ½ eggs, and according to Rabbi Shimon – 2 eggs.

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