Torah Community Connections

Week 13 - Friday - 24 Feb. 2000

ERUVIN: CHAPTER 4: MISHNA 2

Once they did not enter the harbor until nightfall. They said to Rabban Gamliel, "May we disembark?"He said to them,"You may, for I had already looked, and we were within the bounds before nightfall."

Kahati

This mishnah teaches that a person who, on Shabbat eve at twilight, was on a ship approaching the harbor, may disembark on the Shabbat only if the ship was within 2,000 amot of the harbor at the time when the Shabbat station is established.

Once they - the Sages mentioned in the preceding mishnah, did not enter the harbor until nightfall - on Shabbat eve. They said to Rabban Gamliel, "May we disembark?" - They asked him this, because they thought that they had been outside the bounds of the harbor at twilight. The harbor was not surrounded by partitions, for if it had been the law regarding a person whom the non-Jews put in a dir or in a sahar would apply to them, and according to Rabban Gamliel, he may walk throughout the ship.He said to them,"You may - disembark for I had already looked, and we were within the bounds before nightfall" - a baraita quoted in the Gemara explains: "Rabban Gamliel had a tube through which he could see a distance of 2000 amot on land, and 2,000 amot at sea." Rabban Gamliel therefore said to the Sages, "for I had already looked" - through the tube in my hand, and I saw that we were within the bounds of the harbor before nightfall; we may therefore disembark on the Shabbat.

ERUVIN: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 3

If a person went out with permission, and they said to him, "The deed has already been done" he has 2,000 amot in any direction; if he was within the bounds, it is as though he had not gone out, for all who go out to save may return to their place.

Kehati

Mishnah 4:1 taught that a person forced to go beyond the Shabbat bounds on the Shabbat may walk only within a distance of four amot.The person, however, who went beyond the bounds on a life-saving mission, e.g., to save from a fire, or from enemy troops, from a river, or from a wreckage, or a midwife who goes to assist in a childbirth, or witnesses who saw the new moon, whom the Sages permitted to go beyond the Shabbat bounds in order to testify before the Court, all these may, by Rabbinic enactment, go a distance of 2,000 amot in any direction from the place to which they have come (R. H. 2:5). This mishnah discusses the case of a person who went out for such a purpose, and while he was still on the way he was told that his intended mission had already been accomplished.

If a person went out - beyond the bounds, on the Shabbat, with permission - of the Court (Hameiri),e.g., to testify to the appearance of the new moon, or to save from a fire or from enemy troops (as was stated above), and they said to him - on the way, "The deed has already been done" - and you no longer have to go, he has 2,000 - amot in any direction from the place where he was told that he no longer had to go; if he was within the bounds - i.e., although he had already gone out beyond his Shabbat bounds, but the 2,000 amot radius from the place where they stopped him, within which he was allowed to go overlaps the 2,000 amot bounds of his city, it is as though he had not gone out - from his bounds, as his legal status is that of the people of his city, as though he had not gone out (Gemara),for all who go out to save may return to their place - the Sages were lenient regarding anyone who goes out to save people from non-Jews, permitting them to return to their place, even with their weaponry (Gemara). The version in the Gemara reads, "All who go out to save may return to their place."Another version reads, "And all who go out ...," i.e., this is a separate law which allows those who go beyond the bounds to save Jewish lives to return to their place (i.e., up to 2,000 amot), even with their weaponry. And if they are within a distance of 2,000 amot fromtheir city, they may return to their city with their weaponry, as explained above. Butafter a defeat, when it would be dangerous to spend the Shabbat in the field, they may return to their place with their weaponry, even more than 2,000 amot. The reason for this, given in a baraita quoted in the Gemara, is that "At first, they would set down their weapons (when they returned from battle) in a house close to the wall. Once they were sighted by the enemy who pursued them. They entered to take their weapons, and the enemy followed them. In the ensuing jostling,they killed one another, and more fell than at the hands of their enemies. At that time they enacted that they may return to their place with their weaponry" (Shab.45a).

Return to Mishna Yomit Index

Visit the Mishna Yomit Archives