If one were in the east, and he said to his son: "Make an eruv for me in the west"; or if he were in the west, and he said to his son: "Make an eruv for me in the east" — if there are from him to his house two thousand cubits, and to his eruv more than that, he is permitted to his house and forbidden to his eruv. (If there are ) to his eruv two thousand, and to his house more than that, he is forbidden to his house and permitted to his eruv. [("If one were in the east":) in the field, and Shabbath descended upon him there, and he were more than two thousand cubits from his eruv, his eruv is no eruv. Since he may not walk and take it, his habitation is in his house, standing as he does within the tchum of his house. And it is assumed that he desires his habitation to be in his house when his eruv is not an eruv. ("he is forbidden to his house":) to count two thousand cubits on all sides of his house.] If one places his eruv in the outskirts (ibur) of the city, [i.e., in one of the houses standing within the seventy and a fraction cubits], he has done nothing. [For without an eruv, too, he has two thousand cubits on all sides, and the entire city with its ibur are reckoned as his four cubits.] If he placed it outside the tchum [i.e., outside the ibur of the city (Thus is it explained in the gemara)], what he gains [on one side], he loses [on the opposite side. For he counts two thousand cubits on all sides of the eruv, and if he places it at the end of a thousand (from the city) eastwards, it is found that the two thousand to the east end three thousand cubits from the city, so that he gains one thousand (to the east), and the two thousand to the west end one thousand cubits west of the city, so that he loses one thousand cubits. We are hereby apprised that the city is not included in the two thousand cubits to the west, but all of it is regarded as four cubits. This, only when the two thousand cubits from the eruv towards the city terminate at the end of the city or beyond it; but if they terminate in the middle of the city or anywhere within it, he may go within the city only as far as the termination of the two thousand cubits of the eruv and not more, as taught below.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
מי שהיה במזרח – in the field, and he sanctified for himself the [Sabbath] day and he was far from his Eruv more than two-thousand [cubits], for his Eruv is not an Eruv, since he is not able to walk and to carry, it would be for him a Sabbath camp in his house when his Eruv is not an Eruv.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Introduction
This mishnah returns to the subject of Shabbat border eruvin.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
If one was in the east and said to his son, “Prepare for me an eruv in the west”, or if he was in the west and he said to his son, “Prepare for me an eruv in the east”, if the distance between him and his house was no more than two thousand cubits and that between him and his eruv was more than this, he is permitted to go to his house but forbidden to go to his eruv. If the distance to his eruv was no more than two thousand cubits and that to his house more than this, he is forbidden to go to his house but permitted to go to his eruv. Before this person left his home on Friday, he told his son to set up for him an eruv to either the west or east of the city. At dusk on Friday eve, he finds himself on the opposite side of the city. If he is two thousand cubits or less from his home but more than two thousand cubits from his eruv, he may go to his home but not to his eruv. In other words, his eruv is ineffective and he may not go two thousand cubits beyond it. Since when Shabbat began he could not reach his eruv, which was more than two thousand cubits away from him, we say that his intention was that his home would be his “Shabbat place” and from his home, and not the eruv, we measure a Shabbat limit of 2000 cubits. If, on the other hand, he is 2000 cubits or less from his eruv but more than that from his home, he may go to his eruv but not to his home. Again, since he couldn’t get to his home when Shabbat began, we assume that he wished that his eruv would be his “Shabbat place” and from that point and that point only he can travel 2000 cubits.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
בעיבורה של עיר (within the outskirts of the city) – in one of the houses that stands within seventy cubits and left-overs.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
One who puts his eruv within the extension of a town, he has done nothing. If a person puts his eruv within the extensions of the city, his eruv doesn’t help him at all. Even without the eruv, he can go 2000 cubits beyond the extensions of the city. Rather an eruv should ideally be put 2000 cubits beyond the city and its extensions. In this way it extends the distance a person can travel in that direction. The “extensions of the city” refer to the inns and shops which are outside of the city but count in measuring the city’s borders.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
לא עשה ולא כלום – for without an Eruv also, he has from the city/town two-thousand cubits in every direction, and the entire city/town with its outskirts are considered to him as four cubits.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
If he put it even one cubit only beyond the limit he loses what he gains. This refers to a person who sets up his eruv outside the city, but within the 2000 cubit border which surrounds it. This is where an eruv should be set up. The mishnah teaches that every cubit he gains in his ability to travel on one side of the town, he loses on the other. So if he puts the eruv 1000 cubits outside the town on the west, he may now travel 3000 cubits to the west but only 1000 cubits to the east.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
נתנו חוץ לתחום – outside of the outskirts of the city/town. And this is explained in the Gemara (Tractate Eruvin 60b).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
מה שנשכר –[what he gains] in this direction, he loses in the direction that is opposite it. For he counts from the Eruv two-thousand [cubits] in every direction if it and if he placed [something] at the end of one-thousand [cubits] to the east, it is found that the two-thousand [cubits] of the east end at the conclusion of three-thousand [cubits] of the city and he has gained one-thousand, but the two-thousand [cubits] of the west end at the end of one-thousand [cubits] of the west of the city, and he lost one-thousand [cubits]. And this comes to tell us that the city does not count in the total of the two-thousand [cubits] of the west but rather all of it is like four cubits. And these words [apply] when the two-thousand [cubits] do not end from the Eruv to the side of the city/town, but rather, at the end of the city/town or outside of it, but if they end in the middle or the city or at whatever place within it, he cannot walk within the city/town other than up to the point where the two-thousand cubits of the Eruv end, and not further, as it is taught nearby (in the next Mishnah).
