Torah Community Connections

Week 14 - Wednesday - 1 March 2000

ERUVIN: CHAPTER 5: MISHNA 1

How does one extend the bounds of the towns? A house recedes, a house protrudes, a turret recedes, a turret protrudes; if there were there ruins ten tefahs high, and bridges and tomb- structures which have in them dwelling quarters the measurements are taken against them, and it is made in the shape of a square board, so as to benefit from the corners.

Kehati

Just as the addition of a day to a month is called the "intercalation [ibur] of the month," and the addition of a month to the year is called the "intercalation [ibur] of the year," so, too, the addition of areas to an urban settlement is called the "extension [ibur] of the town." Any house that stands outside a town at a distance of not more than 712/3 amot (which is the length of the side of a square the area of a bet satayim 5,000 square [amot] belongs to the area of the town. If one house is only 70 amot distant from the city, and a second house is distant only 70 amot from the first house, and so on, even to a distance of several days' journey, they are all considered part of the town (Ramban, Hil. Shabbat 28:1,2). All these houses, the projections of the town walls and the turrets at the ends of the town, and similar additions are called the "extension [ibur] of the town." This mishnah teaches that the 2,000 amot of the Shabbat bounds are measured from the extension of the town, after marking the boundaries of the entire town with straight lines, in the shape of a square or of a rectangle.

How does one extend the bounds of the towns - how are areas outside the town established as the "extension of the town," i.e., as areas included within the boundaries of the town? A house recedes, a house protrudes - if the outermost houses of the town do not stand in one line, but one house recedes back from the line, and another house protrudes beyond the line, or if a turret recedes, a turret protrudes - e. g., the town is surrounded by a wall, which has protruding towers; according to another interpretation, a "turret" is a projection in the house wall, such as a moulding or a balcony; and similarly, if there were there - at the ends of the town, ruins - walls of a ruined house, ten tefahs high -and they are no farther than 70 2/3 amot from the town, and bridges - e. g., which have living quarters for a customs collector either above or below them, and - or, tomb-structures - buildings over tombs, which have in them dwelling quarters - in which the cemetery watchman dwells at times; all of these belong to the extensions of the town, and therefore - the measurements are taken against them - opposite the projections, e. g., if the projections are in the northeast corner, this is accounted as if there were also projections in the southeast corner, and a straight line is drawn there, marking the eastern boundary of the town; the 2,000 amot of the Shabbat bounds are measured from this line outwards. A similar procedure is followed with the other sides of the town, and it - the town - is made in the shape of a square board - regardless of whether the town is round, triangular, or polygonal, they mark its boundaries, outside the projections on each side, with four straight lines, in the shape of a parallelogram (either a square or a rectangle), so as to benefit from the corners - by marking the boundaries in the shape of a parallelogram, the corners are added to the area of the town, and the Shabbat bounds of the town are measured from these boundary lines outwards.

ERUVIN: CHAPTER 5: MISHNA 2

A karpefis given to the town; so Rabbi Meir. But the Sages say: They did not say karpef, except between two towns; if this one has seventy amot and a fraction, and this one has seventy amot and a fraction, he makes a karpef for the two of them to be as one.

Kehati

As has already been explained (see the introduction to the preceding mishnah), every house which stands at a distance of not more than 70 2/3 amot from the town, belongs to the area of the town, and the distance of 2,000 amot of the Shabbat bounds is measured from this house outwards. This mishnah deals with the addition to the area of the town of an open space 70 2/3 amot long, even when there is no house there; the Tannaim have differing views on this.

A karpef is given to the town - after the boundaries of the town are marked, as explained in the preceding mishnah, an additional karpef, i.e., an open space of 70 2/3 amot is added which is also considered as part of the town, and the Shabbat bounds of 2,000 amot are measured from it outwards; so Rabbi Meir - The Gemara explains his reason: it is written regarding the cities of the Levites, "from the wall of the city and outward a thousand amot" (Num. 35:4) the Torah says, give "outward" and afterwards measure, i.e., give it a karpef of 70 amah and a fraction, and afterwards measure from there on.
But the Sages say. They did not say karpef, except between two towns - that are close to each other; if this one has seventy amot and a fraction, and this one has seventy amot and a fraction - i.e., if the distance between the two towns is only 141 1/3 amot ("a fraction" is approximately 2/3 of an amah see 2:5, above), as the measure of two karpefs, he makes a karpef for the two of them to be as one - a karpef is added to each of these towns. They thereby are regarded as one town, and whoever dwells in one of them may walk to the other 2,000 amot beyond it.

We have interpreted the mishnah in accordance with Rav Huna in the Gemara (57a), which is the interpretation followed by most of the commentators (Ramban, Bartenura, Tiferet Yisrael). Another interpretation, however, follows the view of Hiyyah bar Rav (ibid.), that according to the opinion of the Sages only one karpefis added to two towns, i.e., two nearby towns are considered as one only if the distance between them does not exceed 70 amot and a fraction. The mishnah's concluding statement "if this one has seventy amot and a fraction, and this one has seventy amot and a fraction, he makes a karpef for the two of them to be as one," is a continuation of Rabbi Meir's statement (Rabbi Yonatan of Lunel).

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