R. Eliezer says: Yom Tov close to Shabbath, both (immediately) before it or after it — one places two eruvin and says: "My first eruv is to the east, and the second, to the west" (or) "My first to the west and the second to the east." [If he had to go in one direction on the first day, and in a different direction the second day, he can place an eruv to the east and to the west on the eve of the first day and say: "Let my eruv to the east effect acquisition for me today for tomorrow, and let my eruv to the west effect acquisition for me ben hashmashoth tomorrow for the second day." For R. Eliezer holds that Shabbath and yom tov are not regarded as one long day, but as two separate sanctities, and the ben hashmashoth of the first effects acquisition for itself and not for the second day.] "My eruv is (for) the first (day); and on the second, as the people of my city." [That is, if he needed to go only on the first day, and on the second, he did not need to move from his spot, and he does not wish to lose two thousand from his tchum in either direction, he places one eruv in the direction he wishes to go the first day, and he says: "Let his eruv effect acquisition for me for tomorrow, and on the second day, I shall be as the men of my city," who did not make an eruv. Or, if he had to go on the second day and not on the first, he says: "Let this eruv effect acquisition for me ben hashmashoth tomorrow, and on the first day I shall be as the men of my city."] And the sages say: He makes an eruv in one direction (for both days) or he does not make an eruv at all; or he makes an eruv for two days or he does not make an eruv at all. [This is the same as "in one direction" above. Why need it be mentioned? This is what the rabbis are saying to R. Eliezer: Do you not concur that for one day he makes an eruv either in one direction or not at all? For he cannot say: "Let my eruv be a half day to the east and a half day to the west." For two days, too — that is, for Shabbath and yom tov — he makes an eruv as for one day or he does not make an eruv at all. For the rabbis are in doubt as to whether or not Shabbath and yom tov are regarded as one day. So they rule stringently here — that he may not make an eruv in two directions, in that they might constitute one sanctity — and stringently there, saying below that if it were eaten on the first day, there is no eruv for the second day, in that they might constitute two distinct sanctities and not be regarded as one long day.] What does he do (if he desires the eruv for two days in one direction)? He [the messenger] takes it on the first day [i.e., on the eve of the yom tov before Shabbath], and he waits for dark [until the eruv effects acquisition.] Then he takes it and returns, [lest it go lost and he have no eruv for the second day, as it is taught: "If his eruv were eaten on the first day, it is an eruv for the first day but not for the second."], and on the second day he waits for dark and eats it. [He takes it back on the second day. For it is ruled that if one makes an eruv with a loaf on the first day and he wishes to make an eruv with a loaf on the second day, he must do so with the very same eruv that he designated as such the day before (saying nothing), but not with a different loaf. For he would have to designate it as an eruv, and this would constitute preparation from yom tov to Shabbath.] So that he is found to gain in his going [That is, he effects acquisition for going (beyond the tchum) the next day], and (he is found) to gain in his eruv, [which he eats. And on yom tov after Shabbath, where this is not possible, he takes it there on the first day and does not eat it, and he returns there on the second day to see if it is still there. (If it is,) he waits for dark, after which he may eat it if he so desires.] If it were eaten on the first day, it is an eruv for the first but not for the second. R. Eliezer said to them: You concur with me that they are two (distinct) sanctities. [For you say that if his eruv were eaten on the first day, it does not serve for the second day. And if it were one sanctity, it would be reckoned as one long day, so that the ben hashmashoth of the first day would effect acquisition for both days. Since they are two sanctities, then, he can also make an eruv in two directions! And the rabbis follow the stringent ruling in both instances, as stated above, being in doubt (as to whether they are one or two sanctities.) The halachah is in accordance with R. Eliezer, that Shabbath and yom tov are two sanctities.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
מערב אדם שני עירובין – if he wants to walk on the first day (i.e., whether it is Shabbat or Yom Tov) to this direction and on the second day to that direction, he can make an Eruv to the east and to the west on the eve of the first day, “My Eruv of the east, will acquire for me today for the needs of tomorrow, and my Eruv of the west will acquire for me at twilight of the morrow for the needs of the second day.” For Rabbi Eliezer holds that Shabbat and Yom Tov – they are not like one long day, but rather two [separate days] of holiness, and at twilight of the first, for him he acquires, and not on the second day.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Introduction
This mishnah deals with setting up a Shabbat border eruv for two consecutive days, one of which is Shabbat the other of which is a festival. As an aside, we learn in this mishnah that just as it is prohibited to go beyond the Shabbat border (2000 cubits) so too on a festival it is prohibited to go beyond the same distance. This is somewhat of an innovation for the verse in the Torah which implies that people must not travel refers only to Shabbat.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
עירובי בראשון ובשני כבני עירי – meaning to say, and if he did not need to walk other than on the first day, and on the second [day], he doesn’t need to move from his place, and does not want to lose neither the two-thousand cubits from one direction nor the two-thousand cubits from the other direction, he should make one Eruv to the side/direction that he wishes to go on the first day, and state: “My Eruv will acquire for me for the needs of tomorrow, but on the second [day], I will be like the people of my city/town, who did not make an Eruv.” Or, if he needed to go on the second, but not on the first, he would state: “his Eruv will acquire for me at twilight of the morrow and on the first [day], I will be like the people of my city/town.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Rabbi Eliezer says: if a festival day immediately precedes or follows Shabbat a man may prepare two eruvs and make the following declaration: “my eruv for the first day is that of the east and for the second day is that of the west”; “the one for the first day is that of the west and the one for the second day is that of the east”; “my eruv is for the first day, and for the second day I will be as the people of my town”; or “my eruv is for the second day, and for the first day I will be as the people of my town”. Rabbi Eliezer allows one to make two separate eruvin, one for Shabbat and one for the festival. These two eruvin can function differently. That is to say each can work on opposite sides of the city. Alternatively, he can set up an eruv for one day and have it not be effective for the next day. Rabbi Eliezer holds that Shabbat and the festival are two distinct entities of holiness, and therefore he can set up two different eruvin.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
או מערב לשני ימים – that is, to one direction as we state above. But further than this, why do I need it? But rather, this what the Rabbis said to Rabbi Eliezer: “If you admit that for the first day, that you will either make an Eruv in a certain direction or will not make an Eruv at all, for you are not able to say that for half a day, my Eruv is towards the east and half a day, my Eruv is towards the west. For two days also, which are for Shabbat and Yom Tov, either make an Eruv like for the first day, or do not make an Eruv at all,” for the Rabbis doubt whether Shabbat and Yom Tov is it to be considered like one long day or not, make it here for a stringency, for one cannot make an Eruv in two directions for perhaps it is one holiness (i.e., Shabbat and Yom Tov), and here for a stringency as they state later on, we will eat on the first, for there is no Eruv for the second, for perhaps they are two [separate days] of holiness and not like one long day.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
But the sages say: he either prepares an eruv for one direction or none at all; he either prepares one eruv for the two days or none at all. The sages hold that it is impossible for a person to set up two different eruvin for two consecutive days. Either he sets up an eruv for both days, in which case he loses his ability to leave town on the side for which he did not set up an eruv, or he just doesn’t set up an eruv at all and is limited to going 2000 cubits outside of the city in each direction.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
מוליכו – the agent on the eve of Yom Tov that precedes the Sabbath and wats for nightfall until he acquires the Eruv.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
How should he act? He brings [the eruv] on the first day, he lets it get dark and then he takes it and goes away. On the second day [he again carries the eruv to the same place] and lets it grow dark and then he may eat it. He thus benefits both in his going and in [eating] his eruv. The sages now explain how one should set up an eruv if he wishes it to work for two days. What he needs to avoid is the eruv being eaten up before the second day begins, for this will mean that the eruv is not effective on the second day, as we shall learn in the next section. What he should do is take the eruv to wherever he wants it to be (assumedly 2000 cubits outside of the city so that he can later go another 2000 cubits from there) and make sure it is there at dusk on the eve of the first day. This is the time which “sets” the eruv, and it must be in place at this time. As long as it is there at this time, it need not remain there all day. Therefore, he may take it back with him into town, or anywhere he wants to go within the limit. At the second day, he should again make sure that the eruv is in the same place at dusk. Once it is there through dusk, he may eat it. In this way, he gets to extend his Shabbat limit and still eat his eruv (you can have your eruv and eat it too!).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
ונוטל ובא לו – lest he lose it and will not have for himself an Eruv for the second day, as it is taught, it is consumed by his Eruv on the first day for the Eruv of the first day and there is no Eruv for the second day.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
How should he act? He brings [the eruv] on the first day, he lets it get dark and then he takes it and goes away. On the second day [he again carries the eruv to the same place] and lets it grow dark and then he may eat it. He thus benefits both in his going and in [eating] his eruv. Rabbi Eliezer now responds to the sages by saying that they have in essence admitted that the two days are distinct. He knows this because the sages agree that if he set up an eruv for the first day and it didn’t exist when the second day began, the eruv is not valid. If the sages agree that the two days are distinct entities of holiness, then they should agree that one could set up two different eruvin. If they weren’t then the eruv which was good for the first day should also be good for the second, even if it has been eaten up. The mishnah does not provide an answer from the sages. In the Talmud it is explained that the sages don’t know whether the two days are distinct or not, and therefore they are strict in both cases. They don’t allow two different eruvin to be set up, lest they are not distinct. On the other hand, they say that the eruv which was set up for the first day must exist on the second day lest they are distinct holinesses and the eruv for one is not effective for the other.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
ובשני – and he returns and sends it on the second day. For we hold that a person who makes his Eruv with bread on the first day and wants to make an Eruv with bread on the second, he must make his Eruv with the same Eruv itself that he called a name upon from yesterday, but now he is silent. But not with another piece of bread, for he must designate this now the name of Eruv, and he would be like preparing from Yom Tov for Shabbat.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
נמצא משתכר בהליכתו – meaning to say, that his walking acquires for him for the day after.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
ומשתכר בעירובו – when he eats it (i.e., the bread). But Yom Tov that follows Shabbat, it is not possible like this, which he sends it on the first day and does not eat it and returns and goes there on the second [day] to see if the Eruv awaits the night [at the Sabbath limit], and if he wants, he can eat from it afterwards (i.e., after the Sabbath).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
מודים אתם לי שהן שתי קדושות – that you have stated that if the Eruv is consumed on the first day, there is no Eruv on the second, but if there is one level of holiness, it is for him like one long day, and he acquires at twilight that of the first day for both of them, but since they are two separate [days of] holiness, he can make an Eruv also for two directions, but the Rabbis here follow the stringency and there the stringency as we have stated, because they had doubts. But the Halakha is according to Rabbi Eliezer that Shabbat and Yom Tov are two [separate] days of holiness.
