R. Akiva said to them (the sages): Will you not admit to me that if one places his eruv in a cave, he has only two thousand cubits form the place of his eruv? They responded: When is this so? When it is not fit for habitation, [as when its partitions were breached]; but if it were fit for habitation, he traverses all of it, and outside it, two thousand cubits. [For if it were fit for habitation, even if it were uninhabited now, all of it, according to the sages, would be regarded as four cubits. Likewise, a city where no one dwells, but which has a wall roundabout — if one places his eruv therein, it is regarded as four cubits, even if it is as large as Antiocha]. There is found to be more leniency then, with a cave's inside (vis-à-vis the halachah) than its top. [For if one places his eruv on the top of a cave, he has only two thousand cubits from the place of his eruv, its top not being fit for habitation, whereas he may traverse all of its midst and two thousand cubits outside it.] But as far as measuring is concerned, he is given (only) two thousand, even if the measure ends in a cave. [Even though the sages differ with R. Akiva vis-à-vis one's placing his eruv in a city, saying that the entire city is regarded as four cubits, they admit that if one comes from the place of his habitation and his measurement of two thousand terminates even in a cave fit for habitation, he may not enter beyond (the termination of) his measurement.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
אימתי בזמן שאין בה דיורים – that their partitions were torn down and are not fit for inhabitants, for if it were fit for residents, even though there are none in it now, inhabitants are not considered everything like four cubits, and even if it is large like Antioch.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Introduction
This mishnah is a direct continuation of the second clause of yesterday’s mishnah. To remind ourselves, Rabbi Akiva and the Sages had a debate concerning a person in one city who places his eruv in another city which is within the Shabbat border of his own city. According to Rabbi Akiva, this is treated as a normal case he may go 2000 cubits from his eruv and no more. The Sages hold that the city itself only counts as four cubits and that he may continue to go beyond the city the distance which remains to him after traveling from the first city.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
נמצא קל תוכה מעל גבה – for whereas the [Eruv] on top of the cave , if he placed there his Eruv, he does not have anything other than two-thousand cubits from the place of his Eruv, for on top of it is not fit for inhabitants, but inside , he walks throughout and outside of it two-thousand cubits.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Rabbi Akiva said to them: Do you not agree with me that one who puts his eruv in a cave may walk no further than two thousand cubits from the place of his eruv? One who puts his eruv in a cave outside of his city, may travel another 2000 cubits outside of the eruv, including the length of the cave. The cave does not count for just four cubits rather each cubit within it counts. Rabbi Akiva asks the sages why they agree concerning this halakhah but not concerning one who puts his eruv in a neighboring city. In other words, why in the case of the city does the entire city only count as four cubits, no matter how large it is?
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
ולמודד שאמרו – even though that the Sages dispute on Rabbi Akiva when placing his Eruv in the city/town to state that the entire city is to him like four cubits, they admit that someone who comes from the place of his Sabbath camp and his measurement of two-thousand cubits ended, even in a cave where there are inhabitants, that he doesn’t enter further from his measurement at all.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
They replied: when is this true? Only where no people dwell in it, but where people dwell in it one may walk through the whole of it and two thousand cubits beyond it. The sages respond that the rule regarding one who puts his eruv in a cave is true only if no one lives in the cave. The situation regarding the city is different when he puts his eruv there he counts as one of its residents. Just as the city’s residents may travel anywhere in the city and not have it count toward their 2000 cubits, so too he may travel anywhere in the city and not have it count towards his 2000 cubits.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Thus [where an eruv is put] within [the cave] the law is more lenient than [where one is put] on top of it. This section is way of remembering the rule of the Sages in section two. If the eruv is put on top of a cave which is in a city, then the eruv is in the city and he may walk within the entire city and not have it count toward his 2000 cubits. However, if he puts the eruv in the cave below the city, the cave and certainly the city count toward his 2000 cubit limit. This means that the law is more lenient when the eruv is on top then when it is within.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
And to the measurer, of whom they spoke, they give him a distance of two thousand cubits even if the end of his measure terminates within a cave. In this section the sages agree with Rabbi Akiva concerning one who measures his Shabbat border, that he gets only 2000 cubits, even if this measure ends in the middle of a cave. Even if there are residents in the cave, he still cannot go through to the end of the cave, because his original Shabbat limit ended before he got there. This matches what we learned in the beginning of yesterday’s mishnah, concerning a Shabbat border that ends within a neighboring city. In such a case, he may only go up to the end of his Shabbat border.
