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ERUVIN: CHAPTER 3: MISHNA 5

A person may stipulate regarding his eruv and say, "If Gentiles came from the east, my eruv is to the west; from the west my eruv is to the east; if they came from here and from here, to the place that I want I will go; if they came neither from here nor from here, then I am like the inhabitants of my city.""If a Sage came from the east, my eruv is to the east; from the west my eruv is to the west; if he came here and here, to the place that I want I will go; neither here nor here, then I am like the inhabitants of my city."Rabbi Yehudah says: "If one of them was his teacher, he walks to his teacher; and if both were his teachers, to the place that he wants he goes."

Kehati

This mishnah teaches that, when necessary, a person may set down two eruvs, in two directions, and stipulate that the eruv establishes his Shabbat station in the direction that he will want to go on the Shabbat, or that it does not establish it at all.

A person may stipulate regarding his eruv - A person may set down two eruvs on Shabbat eve, e. g., one at a distance of 2,000 amot to the east of his settlement, and one at a distance of 2,000 amot to the west and says, "If - I learn that - Gentiles came - on the Shabbat, from the east - and I will want to flee from them to the west, my eruv is to the west - my Shabbat station shall be established at twilight in the west, and not in the east, and if I learn that Gentiles came - from the west - my eruv is to the east my eruv that is in the east, and not the one in the west, will establish my Shabbat station; if they came from here and from here - both from the east and from the west, to the place that I want I will go - my eruv shall establish my Shabbat station on the side to which I shall want to go; if they came neither from here nor from here - neither from the east nor from the west, then I am like the inhabitants of my city" - who did not set down an eruv, and they may go 2,000 amot from the city in any direction. He may stipulate thus because regarding eruvei tehumin, we say that there is bereira a choice, i.e., it is verified retrospectively in accordance with his stipulation, which eruv established his Shabbat station at twilight. Similarly, a person may stipulate regarding his eruv in order to go beyond the Shabbat bounds to hear a sermon by a Sage, when it is not known from which direction he will come. He says: "If a Sage came from the east - and will lecture outside the Shabbat bounds of my city, eastward, my eruv is to the east - my eruv that is in the east will establish my Shabbat station. If the Sage comes - from the west - of the city, my eruv is to the west -my eruv that is in the west will establish my Shabbat station. If he came here and here - if two Sages came, one from the east and one from the west, to the place that I want I will go - my eruv shall establish my Shabbat station on the side to which I want to go on the Shabbat; if the Sage came neither here nor here - neither from the east nor from the west, then I am like the inhabitants of my city" - it is as if I did not set down an eruv, and I may go 2,000 amot outside the city in any direction. Rabbi Ychudah says: If - two Sages came, one from the east and one from the west, and - one of them was his teacher, he walks to his teacher - and not to the other one, for he presumably intended at twilight that the eruv on the side where his teacher would lecture should establish his Shabbat station; and if both of them were his teachers - even if one of them was his outstanding teacher (Tiferet Yisrael), to the place that he wants he goes - as he stipulated. The Sages, however, hold that even if one of them is his teacher, he may go to any one he desires, for at times a person prefers to greet his friend rather than his teacher (Gemara).

Tiferet Yisrael writes that this mishnah cited two examples in order to teach that whether to flee when he will require his eruv on the opposite side to where the Gentiles come from to establish his Shabbat station, or to greet a Sage, in which case he stipulates that the eruv on the side from which the Sage comes shall establish his Shabbat station, in either case we say, 'there is bereira." Furthermore, the purpose of the second section of the mishnah ("If a Sage came") may be to record the difference of opinion between Rabbi Yehudah and the Sages. According to another interpretation, the mishnah used these examples because it is common practice to flee from Gentiles and robbers and to go forth to greet a Sage in order to engage in Torah study (Yonatan of Lunel).

ERUVIN: CHAPTER 3: MISHNAH 6

Kahati

Walking beyond the bounds is prohibited on the Shabbat as well as on festivals. This mishnah discusses the case of a Festival which falls on the day preceding or following the Shabbat, and the application of eruvei tehumin.

Rabbi Eliezer says: If a Festival is - falls, next to the Shabbat, whether before it - the Festival falls on Shabbat eve, or after it - it falls on the day after the Shabbat, a person may make two eruvs - if he needs to go beyond the Shabbat bounds, on the First day to the east, and on the second day to the west, or vice versa, he may set down two eruvs on the eve of the first of the two days (i.e., on the eve of the Festival, if the Festival falls on Shabbat eve, or on Shabbat eve, if the Festival falls on the day following the Shabbat), one in the east of the city, and one in the west, and he says,"My eruv for the first - for the needs of the first day, is - to the east - i.e., for the needs of tomorrow, the eruv in the east shall establish, at twilight, my Shabbat station, and - for the needs of - the second - day, the eruv - to the west" - will establish for me, tomorrow, at twilight; or he may say, "My eruv for the needs of the first - day is - to the west and - my eruv for the needs of - the second - day is - to the east" - The Gemara explains that this refers to a case in which he set down one of the eruvs at a distance of 1,000 amot to the east, and the other eruv at a distance of 1,000 amot to the west. If he had placed each of them at a distance of 2,000 amot, his second eruv would not be valid, for he would not be able to reach it on the first day: since he had already established his Shabbat station at a distance of 2,000 amot in one direction, say, to the east, then he may not walk to the west even a distance of one amah (see the Introduction to the Tractate), and he and his eruv would not be in one place at the time of the establishment of the eruv. Similarly, if a person requires to walk beyond the Shabbat bounds only on one day, either the First day or the second, he sets down only one eruv, and he says: "My eruv - shall establish for me for the needs of - the first - day, and - on - the second - day, I shall be - as the people of my city" - who did not set down an eruv, or he says: "My eruv - shall establish for me, tomorrow, at twilight, for the needs of - the second - day, and - on - the first - day, I shall be - as the people of my city" - Rabbi Eliezer's reason, explained below, is that the Festival and the Shabbat are two different sanctities, and at twilight of the first day the eruv establishes the Shabbat station for the first day only; a person may therefore make an eruv for the first day in one direction, and for the second day in another direction. But the Sages say. He makes an eruv for one direction - for both days, or he does not make an eruv at all; or he makes an eruv for two days - for one direction, or he does not make an eruv at all - Querying the second section of the Sages' statement as being a mere repetition of the first section, the Gemara explains that the Sages said to Rabbi Eliezer: just as on one day a person makes an eruv for one direction, or he does not make an eruv at all, for he cannot say,"Half the day my eruv will be to the east and half the day it will be to the west,"so, too, he cannot make an eruv for two days, one day to the east and one day to the west, but either "he makes an eruv for two days" in one direction, "or he does not make an eruv at all."The Sages' reason is their doubt as to whether the two consecutive days of the Festival and the Shabbat are one sanctity, as one long day, or whether they are two sanctities. They are therefore stringent in this case, permitting to make only one eruv for the two days, since the two of them are one sanctity. However, even according to the Sages, the eruv must be in its proper place also at twilight preceding the second day, in case they are two sanctities (see below). If so, How does he make - the eruv for two days in one direction, so that the eruv should be in existence also at twilight preceding the second day? If the Festival falls on Shabbat eve, He takes it - his eruv, on the Festival eve, for the first - the Festival day, and he waits for nightfall - he stays there, in the place where he wants to establish his Shabbat station, until nightfall, and the eruv establishes his Shabbat station for the Festival, and he takes it - the food of the eruv, and he comes - with it to his house, lest it be lost there, and on the second - on the eve of the second day (i.e., on the Festival that is also Shabbat eve), he retunis and takes the eruv, during the day, to the place of his Shabbat station, and - he waits - there - until nightfall - so that his eruv should be established at twilight, and he eats it -there, for he may not carry it on Shabbat night from the public domain to his house. And thus he benefits by his walking - for his eruv establishes his Shabbat station for him for the following day as well, and he may walk on the Shabbat to the place that he wants, and he benefits from his cruv - for he eats it there, and he does not lose the food of his eruv. If, however, the Festival follows the Shabbat, he may not carry it on Shabbat night to his house, but takes it on Shabbat eve and he sets it down there, and he goes back there on the Shabbat, before twilight, to check if his eruv is still there, and he waits for nightfall, and he eats it afterwards if he so wishes, or he takes it home. If it - the eruv,was eaten on the first - after the twilight of the first day, his eruv is - valid, for the first - day, but it is not an eruv - is not valid, for the second - day, for the reason explained above: the Sages are stringent because of the doubt whether the two days are two sanctities. Rabbi Eliezer said to them:You agree with me that they are two sanctities - since you hold that if the eruv is eaten on the first day it does not serve as an eruv for the second day, you agree that the Festival and the Shabbat which fell on consecutive days are two sanctities; for if they were one sanctity, the eruv set at twilight of the first day would be valid for both days. Since they are two sanctities, a person may make eruvs on them for two directions. The Sages, however, are stringent both ways because of their doubt as to whether they are one or two sanctities, as was explained above. The halakhah follows Rabbi Eliezer (Ramban,hil.Eruvin 8:5).

Rashi and Bartenura interpret "He takes it for the first" to mean that the agent carries it. Their reason is that the person who makes the eruv does not need the food, but rather makes the eruv with his feet, i.e., when he goes to the place where he wants to establish his Shabbat station and he waits there at twilight until nightfall, he thereby makes the eruv tehumin, as mishnah 4:9 states that the eruv tehumin is established primarily with the feet. The Gemara explains the reason for having to take the eruv again on the second day as follows: if a person who made an eruv with food for the first day (i.e., for the Festival) wants to make an eruv with food for the second day as well, he must make the eruv with the same food which he set aside on the previous day for the eruv", but he may not make the eruv with other food, for he would have to set it aside for the eruv, and thus would be preparing on the Festival for the Shabbat, which is prohibited. According to another interpretation, the person who makes the eruv himself again, takes it to the place of the eruv on the eve of the second day. This is why the Sages added the sentence "And thus he benefits by his walking and he benefits from his eruv" (Rabbi Yonatan of Lunel).

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