Y es a este respecto [es decir, con respecto a uno en el camino, que no tiene pan, que en ese momento es "pobre"] que dijeron: "Un hombre pobre hace un eruv con los pies". R. Meir dijo: Sólo tenemos a un hombre pobre. [es decir, es solo él a quien los sabios permitieron hacer un eruv con sus pies. Porque R. Meir sostiene que un eruv, esencialmente, es con un pan, y fueron indulgentes con un hombre pobre o con uno en el camino sin pan, lo que les permite hacer un eruv "con los pies".] R. Yehudah dice: Tanto un hombre pobre como un hombre rico (hacen un eruv "con los pies"). Dijeron que un eruv se hace con una hogaza solo para ser indulgente con el hombre rico, que él no (se ve obligado a) salir y hacer un eruv con sus pies. [R. Yehudah sostiene que un eruv, esencialmente, está con los pies, y fueron indulgentes con un hombre rico que no podía hacerlo "con los pies", lo que le permitió enviar su eruv a través de un mensajero. La halajá está de acuerdo con R. Yehudah. Y tanto R. Meir como R. Yehudah sostienen que si uno dice: "Mi habitación está en ese lugar", no adquiere habitación allí a menos que sea un hombre pobre o en el camino sin pan; pero un hombre rico debe enviar un pan al lugar de su habitación. Y si uno dice: "Mi habitación está en ese lugar", él no adquiere habitación allí a menos que haya tiempo en el día para correr y alcanzarla antes de que oscurezca, sin lo cual no adquiere habitación allí.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
זה שאמרו – such as the case of one who is on the road and he doesn’t have bread with him, and now he is poor, the Sages permitted him to make an Eruv with his feet for Rabbi Meir holds that the essence of the Eruv is with bread and it is a leniency for they were lenient regarding the poor or someone who is coming on the road and he doesn’t have any bread to make an Eruv with his feet. But Rabbi Yehuda holds that the essence of the Eruv is with the foot and it is a leniency, for they made a leniency for the rich who is not able to walk on his feet that he may send his Eruv through an agent and the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda. But both Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda are similar in that if a person says that his Sabbath resting place is in a certain place, he does not acquire a Sabbath resting place in the place that he said, other than if he is poor or comes on the road and doesn’t have any bread with him, but if he is rich, he must send bread in the place of his Sabbath rest, and he who says: “My Sabbath resting place is in this particular place” does not acquire there a Sabbath resting place other than if there is time left during the day where he can run and arrive there prior to the onset of darkness, and if he lacks that much time left during the day, at the hour that he states: “My Sabbath resting place is in a certain place,” he did not acquire a Sabbath resting place there.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Introduction
In today’s mishnah we see another essential debate about how the Shabbat border eruv works. The debate is whether one has to put a meal in the place which he wants to establish as his Shabbat place, or whether his physical presence in that place is sufficient.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
This is what [the rabbis] have said: “a poor man makes his eruv with his feet.” In the previous mishnayot we have seen several instances where a person traveling on the road says “Let this be my Shabbat place” and that statement alone has been sufficient to establish that place as the point from which he may walk 2000 cubits in each direction. Our mishnah applies to this halakhah the early rabbinic statement that “a poor man makes his eruv with his feet.” This means that the poor man traveling on the road need not have bread or a meal with him at the place which he establishes as his Shabbat place.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Rabbi Meir said: we can apply this law to a poor man only. According to Rabbi Meir, only a poor man can establish his Shabbat place by mere physical presence. A rich person, sitting in his house, must establish his Shabbat place with bread. He must bring the bread out to where he wants to set up his Shabbat place; his physical presence is not sufficient.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Rabbi Judah says: it applies to both rich and poor; they only said that an eruv is prepared with bread in order to make it easier for the rich man, so that he does not have to go out and make the eruv with his feet. According to Rabbi Judah, the halakhah that a person may make his eruv by mere physical presence without bread applies to all people, both rich and poor. The sages allowed a rich person to set his Shabbat place with bread (a meal) in order to make it easier for him. He may send some of his bread outside of the city and set his Shabbat place there, without him actually having to go there. However, bread is a leniency and not a requirement. In the Talmud they explain that Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Judah only debate whether a rich person sitting in his home can go outside of the city and establish his Shabbat place by being there when Shabbat begins. Rabbi Meir says he needs to set up a meal there as well. However, Rabbi Judah agrees that only a poor person traveling on the road can see a far away place and say that his Shabbat place will be there (see mishnah seven). A rich person in his house must either send a meal there or go there himself.
