Si quelqu'un lisait un rouleau [(Tous leurs livres étaient enroulés comme nos rouleaux de la Torah)] sur le seuil inférieur de la porte, [qui est un karmelith], et qu'il se détachait de sa main, il peut le faire rouler à lui-même [ puisqu'une extrémité était dans sa main]. S'il lisait sur un toit et que le rouleau se détachait de sa main—Tant qu'il n'a pas atteint les dix tefachim [inférieurs] [près du sol du domaine public], il le retourne sur l'écriture, [les lettres faisant face au mur, afin qu'il ne soit pas ouvertement rabaissé, et il part il là jusqu'à la nuit. Car si la fin n'était pas dans sa main, il serait en transgression d'une interdiction de la Torah (s'il la ramassait), et «la fin dans sa main» est décrétée contre en raison de «la fin n'est pas dans sa main». La gemara demande: "Mais elle ne s'est pas arrêtée!" Autrement dit, même si elle a atteint les dix tefachim inférieurs, il n'y a pas d'interdiction de la Torah ici, même si la fin n'était pas entre ses mains, car elle ne s'est pas arrêtée dans le domaine public. Et il répond: Nous parlons d'un exemple dans lequel le mur est incliné et le rouleau s'est immobilisé sur la projection de mur des dix tefachim inférieurs, ce qui équivaut à son repos dans le domaine public, de sorte que si la fin n'était pas dans sa main et il l'a ramené, il serait responsable en vertu de la loi de la Torah.] R. Yehudah dit: Même si ce n'était qu'à une distance d'une aiguille du sol, il le ramène à lui-même. [Notre Mishnah est défectueuse. On l'enseignait ainsi: s'il atteint dix tefachim du sol, il le retourne sur l'écriture. Quand est-ce ainsi? Avec un mur incliné, là où il s'est immobilisé. Mais avec un mur qui n'est pas incliné, il le fait reculer. Ce sont les paroles de R. Yehudah, qui dit que même si ce n'est qu'à une distance d'une aiguille du sol, il la fait rouler sur lui-même, reposant sur un objet requis (pour la responsabilité).] R. Shimon dit: Même s'il était sur le sol lui-même, il le ramène à lui-même, car rien de proscrit en raison de shvuth (repos du sabbat) ne l'emporte sur (la sainteté) des saintes écritures, [comme dans ce cas, quand la fin est entre ses mains et il ne transgresse le «shvuth» rabbinique que s'il vient le faire reculer. Car il n'est pas responsable par la loi de la Torah à moins que le rouleau ne quitte entièrement sa main et ne vienne reposer dans le domaine public et qu'il vienne le retirer du domaine public et le placer dans le domaine privé. La halakha n'est pas conforme à R. Shimon.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
הקורא בספר – all of their books were rolled like our Torah scrolls.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Introduction
This mishnah deals with a person who was reading a scroll while in one domain and the end of the scroll rolled out of his hand and went into another domain. He is left holding only one end of the scroll. The question is: can he roll it back to himself?
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
האסקופה – a kind of balcony/portico that is in front of the entrance of the house and it is a marked off plot in a public thoroughfare (which cannot be classified as either private property or as a public thoroughfare).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
If one was reading a scroll on a threshold and the scroll rolled out of his hand, he may roll it back to himself. This person is not in the house but on the threshold of the house. The threshold is considered a “karmelit” a place that is neither a public nor a private domain. The scroll’s end rolls out of his hand and goes into the public domain. The mishnah allows him to roll it back to himself due to two factors: 1) he still holds one end of the scroll. Therefore, the scroll has not totally gone into the public domain. 2) The threshold is a karmelit and not a private domain.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
גוללו אצלו – since for one head is in his hand.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
If he was reading on the top of a roof and the scroll rolled out of his hand: Before it reached ten handbreadths from the ground, he may roll it back to himself; But after it had reached ten handbreadths from the ground he must turn it over with its writing downwards. In this case he is on the roof which is considered a private domain, and the scroll’s end falls down toward the ground. According to the first opinion, if the scroll gets to within ten handbreadths of the ground he may not roll it back. The area within ten handbreadths of the ground is considered to be part of the public domain, and it is forbidden to roll something back from the public domain into a private domain. What he should do in such a situation is turn the scroll over on its face in order to protect the side which has the writing. As we shall see below, this isn’t just any scroll, it’s a biblical scroll (a Scroll!) whose writing must be protected. If the scroll did not reach ten handbreadths within the ground then he may roll it back because it has not yet reached the public domain.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
לעשרה טפחים – the lower parts that are near the ground of the public domain, for if the tie/knot is not in his hand, it is prohibited, according to the Torah (to roll it back), and we make the decree that the tie in his hand is on account of when the tie is not in his hand. But in the Gemara (Talmud Eruvin 98a), an object is raised for it does not rest, that is to say, even though it arrived at the ten lower handbreadths, there is no Torah prohibition here, even if he did not have the knot/tie in his hand, since it did not rest in the public domain, and we answer, such as case that there was there a slanting wall, and the scroll came to rest on the protruding part of the wall of the ten lower handbreadths, which is as if it came to rest in the public domain, but if the the knot was not in his hand, it would be a Torah obligation [that is violated] if he brings hit near him. But our Mishnah is taught deficiently and this is how it should be taught: if it arrived to the ten handbreadths from the ground, they turn over upon the written side. When is this said? With a slanting wall that rests, but with a wall that it not slanted, roll it back to himself, according to Rabbi Yehuda, for Rabbi Yehuda states that even if it is removed above the ground only a needle’s thickness, he may roll it back to himself, for we require resting upon something.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Rabbi Judah says: even if it was removed from the ground by no more than a thread's thickness he may roll it back to himself. According to Rabbi Judah, even if the scroll has reached ten handbreadths of the ground, it is still permissible to roll it back, as long as it has not touched the ground itself. Rabbi Judah seems to disagree with the previous opinion concerning whether or not the area ten handbreadths from the ground has the same status as the ground itself.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
הופכו על הכתב – that the letters will be towards the wall in order that it not lie so much in disrepute, and we leave it there until it becomes dark [on Saturday night].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Rabbi Shimon says: even if it touched the actual ground he may roll it back to himself, since no prohibition that is due to “Shabbat rest” stands before the Holy Writings. Rabbi Shimon holds that in all cases this is permitted since this is a prohibition that is not “deoraita” from the Torah, but rather due to “Shabbat rest” (shevut). This term denotes an prohibition that the rabbis added to those of the Torah, the point of which is to preserve the character of Shabbat as a day of rest. In this case, rolling the scroll back is only a violation of “Shabbat rest” and not a deoraita violation. The reason for this is that he holds one end of the scroll in his hand when he rolls it back he is not taking something that is completely in the public domain and bringing it into the public domain. According to Rabbi Shimon, the respect and concern for the Holy Writings outweighs the rabbinic prohibition, and therefore he may roll it back.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
דבר משום שבות – such as the case when the knot/tie is in his hand, and if it is not, this is the rest/abstention from any pursuit forbidden on Shabbat or a Jewish holy day/festival by the Rabbis as being out of keeping with the importance and sanctity of this day, if he comes to roll it up towards himself, for he is not liable from the Torah other than if the scroll left his hand completely and came to rest in the public domain, and he came to uproot it from the public domain and to place it in the private domain, but the Halakah is not according to Rabbi Shimon.
