Eruvin

or by a minor.1 Said Abaye to Rabbah: An objection can be raised both against your view and against that of Samuel. For was it not taught: ‘If five residents who collected their ‘erub2 desired to transfer it to another place,3 one may take it there on behalf of all of them,’4 [from which it follows that it is] that man alone that performs the kinyan5 and no other, and that it is he alone who acquires the habitation and no other.6 — The other replied: This is no objection either against my view or against that of Samuel, since the man acts on behalf of all of them.7 Rabbah stated in the name of R. Hama b. Goria who had it from Rab: The halachah, is in agreement with R. Simeon.8 MISHNAH. IF A MAN WHO WAS ON A JOURNEY [HOMEWARD]9 WAS OVERTAKEN BY DUSK,10 AND HE KNEW OF A TREE OR A WALL11 AND SAID, ‘LET MY SABBATH BASE BE UNDER IT’,12 HIS STATEMENT IS OF NO AVAIL.13 IF, HOWEVER, HE SAID, LET MY SABBATH BASE BE AT ITS ROOT’,14 HE MAY WALK FROM THE PLACE WHERE HE STANDS TO ITS ROOT A DISTANCE OF TWO THOUSAND CUBITS, AND FROM ITS ROOT TO HIS HOUSE ANOTHER TWO THOUSAND CUBITS. THUS HE CAN WALK FOUR THOUSAND CUBITS AFTER DUSK. IF HE DOES NOT KNOW OF ANY TREE OR WALL, OR IF15 HE IS NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE HALACHAH,16 AND SAID, LET MY PRESENT POSITION BE MY SABBATH BASE’, HIS POSITION ACQUIRES FOR HIM THE RIGHT OF MOVEMENT WITHIN A RADIUS17 OF TWO THOUSAND CUBITS IN ANY DIRECTION; SO R. HANINA B. ANTIGONUS. THE SAGES, HOWEVER, RULED: THE DISTANCES18 ARE TO BE SQUARED IN THE SHAPE OF A SQUARE TABLET, SO THAT HE MAY GAIN THE AREA OF THE CORNERS. THIS19 IT IS OF WHICH [THE RABBIS] HAVE SAID: A POOR MAN MAY MAKE HIS ERUB WITH HIS FEET.20 R. MEIR SAID: WE CAN APPLY THIS LAW21 TO22 A POOR MAN ONLY.23 R. JUDAH SAID: IT21 APPLIES TO BOTH RICH AND POOR, THE RABBIS ENACTMENT THAT AN ERUB IS TO BE PREPARED WITH BREAD HAVING THE ONLY PURPOSE OF MAKING IT EASIER FOR THE RICH MAN, SO THAT24 HE SHALL NOT BE COMPELLED TO GO OUT HIMSELF AND MAKE THE ERUB WITH HIS FEET. GEMARA. What exactly is the meaning of ‘HIS STATEMENT IS OF NO AVAIL’? — Rab explained: HIS STATEMENT IS OF NO AVAIL whatsoever, so that he may not proceed even to the space under the tree.25 Samuel, however, explained: HIS STATEMENT IS OF NO AVAil as regards proceeding to his house; he may, however, proceed as far as the space under the tree.26 The space under the tree, however, is to be measured27 [as if one were acting both as an] ass-driver and a camel-driver.28 If, for instance, the man desired to measure29 from the northern side of the tree30 he is told to begin his measuring from its southern side,31 and if he desired to measure from its southern side32 he is told to begin his measuring from the northern side.33 kinyan, hence the invalidity of the ‘erub according to Samuel. As the food, however, which he collected constitutes a common habitation for the residents, that is independent of his personality and rights, the ‘erub is valid according to Rabbah. PERMITTED TO HAVE ACCESS To THEM AND THEY ARE PERMITTED ACCESS TO IT. direction. two Sabbath limits distant from his position he could not otherwise have reached it during the Sabbath. man (cf. previous n.) may acquire it as his place for the Sabbath. Sabbath rest from which he could be enabled to walk within the permitted Sabbath limit. His right to the place on which he stood when the Sabbath had set in he expressly renounced by choosing another one, while the area under the tree could not be acquired by him since he had not specified which particular four cubits of that space he chose (cf. infra). far in either direction. tree. tree he desired to acquire, any four cubits space within the circumference of the tree and its branches may be assumed to be the appointed spot. In measuring the distances, therefore, a course must be adopted which under all circumstances could not possibly lead to all infringement of any of the restrictions involved. If the diameter of the circumference of the tree and its branches measured, for instance, twenty cubits, and the distance from its northern point to the man's house was exactly two thousand cubits, the measuring must not begin from that point but from the southern point of the diameter which is two thousand and twenty cubits distant from that house. And, since it is forbidden to proceed beyond two thousand cubits, the man's Sabbath limit would terminate at a point twenty cubits away from his house which, in consequence, he would not be able to enter during the Sabbath. began.