Torah Community Connections

Week 14 - Tuesday - 29 Feb. 2000

ERUVIN: CHAPTER 4: MISHNA 10

Whoever set out to go to a town in which they make an eruv, and his fellow turned him back, he is permitted to go, and all the people of the town are prohibited; so Rabbi Yehudah. Rabbi Meir says: Whoever could, but did not prepare an eruv, is like an ass and camel driver.

Kehati

Whoever set out - on Shabbat eve, to go - to prepare an eruv, to a town in which they make an eruv - according to another version, "to which they prepare an eruv" (R. Shelomo Lurid), i.e., the people of his town sent him to set down bread for an eruv at the end of the town's Shabbat bounds, so that they may go on the following day to the town to which they normally prepare an eruv, which is at a distance of about 4,000 amot, and to which they may walk on the Shabbat by means of an eruv, and his fellow turned him back - e.g., he advised him not to go now because of bad weather, he is permitted to go - on the Shabbat, to this town; since he set out on the way. Because began to walk to the end of the town's Shabbat bounds in order to establish a Shabbat station there, his status is that of a person traveling who said, "My Shabbat station is in such-and-such a place" (see 4:7, above), and who established his Shabbat station there, and - but, all the people of the town - who did not set out on their way, but relied upon the eruv that he was going to set down on their behalf, are prohibited - from going there; since their eruv was not set down at the end of their Shabbat bounds, they did not establish a station there, and they have only 2,000 amot in any direction from their town, as usual when no eruv is prepared; so Rabbi Yehudah - for he holds that whoever sets out on his way to establish a Shabbat station in a certain place, it is established there, even though he did not arrive there, and did not even say "My Shabbat station is in such-and-such a place," since he resolved to establish his Shabbat station there and he set out on his way, (Gemara, Ramban).
Rabbi Meir says: Whoever could prepare an eruv - with bread; but did not prepare an eruv - according to another interpretation, "Whoever could prepare an eruv" by saying "My Shabbat station is in such-and-such a place," but did not say so (Rashi), then this one is like an ass driver and a camel driver – a person who drives both an ass and a camel, and he is between them, and as a result the ass pulls him forward and the camel drags him backward (see 3:4, above), so, too, this person may walk on the Shabbat only the 2,000 amot between his town and the place where he intended to establish his Shabbat station, because Rabbi Meir is in doubt as to the location of the person's Shabbat station, whether in the place where he wanted to set down the eruv (since he went out from his house and set out on his way), in which case he does not have 2,000 amot in every direction from his town, but only from the place of his Shabbat station; or whether in his house, for since he could have prepared an eruv with bread but did not do so, he did not establish his Shabbat station at the end of the town's Shabbat bounds, and he may therefore not go out beyond the town's Shabbat bounds in the direction of the town to which he wanted to prepare an eruv. According to Rashi cited above. Rabbi Meir is in doubt whether he had in mind to establish the Shabbat station at the end of the Shabbat bounds, or whether he retracted, and established his Shabbat station in his house, since the person did not say, "My Shabbat station is in such-and-such a place."

We have explained this mishnah in accordance with the interpretation of Rambam and Bartenura. Other commentators, however, interpret it in accordance with the Gemara, that this refers to a case "in which he has two houses, and there are two Shabbat bounds between them." I.e., a person has a house in one town and a house in another town, with a distance of 4,000 amot between them, and a person may walk from one to another by means of an eruv. If he set out on Shabbat eve, during the day, to go to his house in the second town and to spend the Shabbat there, and not in order to establish a Shabbat station at the end of the Shabbat bounds and to return, "and his fellow turned him back," saying, "My Shabbat station is in such-and-such a place," i.e., at the end of the bounds, so that he may walk on the following day to his house in the nearby town. "He is permitted to go" on the following day to that town, for since he set out on his way and he has a house there, he is as a person who was on his way home and was overtaken by nightfall. In this case he establishes his Shabbat station there if he says, "My Shabbat station is in such-and-such a place," and he may walk from the place where he is standing a distance of 4,000 amot (see 4:7, above); "and all the people of the town" - i.e., his fellows who turned him back - even though they said to him that they want to go with him on the following day to that town, and therefore they also said, "May our Shabbat station be in the same place in which you established your Shabbat station," are prohibited from going beyond the Shabbat bounds of their town, since they did not leave their houses in order to go to the other town, nor in order to establish a Shabbat station at the end of the Shabbat bounds. Their status is, therefore, that of rich people, and their statement, "Our Shabbat station is in such-and-such a place," is of no avail to them. They are as the people of their town who have 2,000 amot in every direction from the town (Rabbi Yonatan of Lunel, Hameiri-, see Rashi, Eruv. 51b).

ERUVIN: CHAPTER 4: MISHNA 11

Whoever went out beyond the bounds, even one amah, may not enter. Rabbi Eliezer says, Two he may enter; three he may not amot he may enter, for the surveyors do not measure exactly, because of those who err.

Kehati

Whoever went out - on the Shabbat, beyond the bounds, even one amah - intentionally, and knowingly, not in order to fulfill an obligation (Rashi); Rabbi Yonatan of Lunel adds: 'or unintentionally,' may not enter - the Shabbat bounds of the town, and he has only four amot. Even though his four amot overlap the bounds of the town, we do not say that it is as if he did not go out beyond the bounds. Ramban explains the reason for this law: "for the four amot that a man has begun from the place where he is standing (according to the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah [4:5, above]). Therefore, since he went out beyond his bounds one amah or more, he sits in his place, and he may only walk within the four amot from the spot where his feet are standing, outwards" (Hil. Shabbat 27:11; see Hasagat Haravad and the commentaries on Ramban).
Rabbi Eliezer says, If he went out beyond the bounds up to - Two - amot, he may enter - the town bounds, for Rabbi Eliezer follows his principle (4:5, above) that the person is in the middle of his four amot, thus the person who stands at the end of the bounds has two amot within the bounds and two amot outside the bounds. Therefore, when he went outside a distance of up to two amot, he is still within the bounds, and he may enter it; but if he went out three - amot beyond the bounds, i.e., he is standing within the third amah after the bounds (Gemara), he may not enter - the town bounds, and he has only four amot, because they are not within the bounds. The halakhah does not follow Rabbi Eliezer.
Whoever - returned from a journey on Shabbat eve, and intended to enter the town, and he - was overtaken by nightfall outside the bounds - close to the town bounds, even - if he was - one amah - outside the bounds, may not enter - i.e., he has only four amot. Since he is standing outside the town bounds, i.e., there is a distance of more than 2,000 amot between him and the town, even if he said, "My Shabbat station is in the city," he said nothing; nor did he establish his Shabbat station in his place, because he expressed his desire that he does not want to establish his Shabbat station there, but prefers the town. Therefore, he has the legal status of the person who went out beyond the bounds, and he has only four amot. Ramban explains: "He may not enter" the town, for he may walk from the place where he stood at twilight a distance of only 2,000 amot, and these 2,000 amot end outside the city (Hil. Shabbat 27:11).

Rabbi Shimon says, If a person was overtaken by nightfall – Even fifteen amot - outside the bounds, he may enter - the town bounds, and share the status of the town, for the surveyors do not measure exactly - the bounds, i.e., they do not establish the marker of the bounds at exactly the end of 2,000 amot, but rather establish it approximately fifteen amot before the 2,000, because of those who err -regarding the marker of the bounds and overstep the bounds and return. Therefore, the Sages treated leniently a person overtaken by nightfall outside the bounds as this is a circumstance beyond his control, and permitted him to enter a maximum of fifteen amot beyond the bounds. However, the Sages were stringent with a person who overstepped the bounds, since he ought to have been careful, (see above). Alternatively, "because of those who err" refers to the surveyors who err up to fifteen amot, in the measurement of the 2,000 amot. As is explained below (5:4), the surveyors would measure with a rope fifty amot long, with forty of these measures totaling 2,000 amot. However, each of these measures would fall short by the two handholds of the persons holding the rope at each end. Each of these handholds was one tefah and one half a thumb. The eighty handholds totaled 80 tefahs, and an additional 40 thumbs (i.e., 10 tefahs, containing four thumbs each). These handholds therefore totaled 90 tefahs, i.e., 15 amot.

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