R. Yehudah dice: Si alguien aprehende que Beth-Din podría intercalar a Rosh Hashaná, deja dos eruvin y dice: "Mi eruv para el primer día es hacia el este, y para el segundo día hacia el oeste" (o) " para el primer día hacia el oeste, y para el segundo día hacia el este ". "Mi eruv es para el primer día, y el segundo día, como la gente de mi ciudad" (o) "Mi eruv es para el segundo día, y el primer día, como la gente de mi ciudad". [Si temía que el gran beth-din pudiera intercalar a Elul, para que hubiera dos días santos (el trigésimo y el trigésimo primero de Elul), y tenía que ir en una dirección el primer día y en otro en la segunda dirección, deja dos eruvin en vísperas de yom tov, uno en cualquier dirección, y dice, etc.] Y los sabios no coincidieron con él. [Porque sostienen que son una santidad. Y la halajá está de acuerdo con los sabios vis-à-vis los dos días de Rosh Hashaná. Porque no es solo por la duda que se instituyeron dos días, (duda en cuanto a) si beth-din había santificado el trigésimo día o el trigésimo primer día y uno de ellos es chol (es decir, no iom tov), sino también debido a la posibilidad de que testigos (hubieran venido) de minchah en adelante, en ese caso ese día se observa como santo, y el día siguiente como santo, ambos (juntos) se consideran como una santidad. Pero con los otros festivales del exilio, donde instituyeron dos días solo por dudas, sin saber cuándo el gran beth-din había santificado la luna nueva, los sabios coinciden con R. Yehudah en que son dos santidades distintas. (Los "sabios" aquí son R. Yossi.)]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
שמא תעבר – lest the Great Jewish Court would make Elul a leap month (i.e., adding a 30th day to what is ordinarily only 29 days), and there will be two Holy Days, the thirtieth of Elul and the thirty-first, and he would need to go on the first day to one side and on the second day to the other side by making two Eruvin, and place them on the eve of Yom Tov, one on this side and the other on the other and say, etc. (i.e., that my Eruv for the first day will be in one direction and my Eruv for the second day will be in the other direction – like in the previous Mishnah).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Introduction
In the time of the Mishnah, every Hebrew month had either 28 or 29 days, but people would not know before the end of the month how many days any given month had. This was decided by the testimony of witnesses who would come to the court in Jerusalem and testify that they had seen a new moon (we will learn about this in tractate Rosh Hashanah). Therefore, before the calendar was fully fixed, on the 28th day of a month, a person would not know if the next day will be Rosh Hodesh (the first of the month) or the last day of the preceding month. This was an especially significant problem on the last day of Elul, the month that precedes Rosh Hashanah. Until witnesses came one would not know if the next day was Rosh Hashanah or not. Our mishnah deals with the problem of setting up an eruv in such a situation.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
ולא הודו לו חכמים – for they hold that it is one [day] of holiness. And the Halakha is according to the Sages regarding the two holy days of Rosh Hashanah. But not because doubt alone they established this lest the Jewish Court should sanctify the thirtieth day or the thirty-first day (as Rosh Hashanah/Rosh Hodesh), and one of them is a weekday. But because lest witnesses should come from the time of Minha/afternoon and beyond (and state that they saw the New Moon), and they would observe that day as holy and the morrow as holy and both of them would be one holiness. But, the rest of the Holy Days of the Diaspora, that they did not establish other than from doubt, for we don’t know when the Great Jewish Court sanctified the month, the Sages agree with Rabbi Yehuda that they are two [days of] holiness. And the Sages that are mentioned here are Rabbi Yossi.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Rabbi Judah says: [if on the eve of the] New Year a man was afraid that [the preceding month of Elul] might be intercalated, he may prepare two eruvs and make this declaration: “My eruv for the first day is that to the east and the one for the second day is that to the west”; “the one for the first day is that to the west and the one for the second day is that to the east”; “my eruv is for the first day, and for the second I shall be as the people of my town”; “my eruv is for the second day, and for the first I shall be as the people of my town.” The person described in this mishnah finds himself on the 28th of Elul, assuming that the next day is going to be Rosh Hashanah, but not knowing if the day after will also be Rosh Hashanah. If witnesses come the next day by a certain time, then it and it alone will be Rosh Hashanah, but if they do not come, then the following day will also be Rosh Hashanah. The problem therefore is how to set up an eruv for both days? Rabbi Judah says that he can treat these two days as if they were two separate entities of holiness, just as Rabbi Eliezer in yesterday’s mishnah said concerning the festival which precedes or comes after Shabbat.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
But the sages did not agree with him. Just as the rabbis disagreed with Rabbi Eliezer in yesterday’s mishnah, so too they disagree with Rabbi Judah in this mishnah. They reason that the two days may be one entity of holiness, in which case one cannot set two separate eruvin for the two days. We should note that at a certain point during the mishnaic period it became fixed that Rosh Hashanah was two days, and to this day Jews all over the world, and even those in the land of Israel observe two days of Rosh Hashanah. The two days are considered to be one long day of kedushah (holiness) and therefore, one cannot set up two different eruvin for the two days. In contrast, the second day of festivals (second day of Yom Tov) is only observed in the Diaspora. Where this second day is observed, one may set up two different eruvin for the two days.
