R. Yehudah dit: Si quelqu'un appréhende que Beth-din pourrait intercaler Rosh Hashanah, il dépose deux éruvin et dit: "Mon eruv pour le premier jour est à l'est, et pour le deuxième jour à l'ouest" (ou) " pour le premier jour à l'ouest et pour le deuxième jour à l'est. " "Mon érouv est pour le premier jour, et le deuxième jour, comme les gens de ma ville" (ou) "Mon érouv est pour le deuxième jour, et le premier jour, comme les gens de ma ville." [S'il avait peur que le grand Beth-Din puisse intercaler Elul, de sorte qu'il y ait deux jours saints (le trentième et le trente et un d'Elul), et il devait aller dans une direction le premier jour et dans une autre direction sur la seconde, il dépose deux eruvin à la veille de yom tov, un dans les deux sens, et dit, etc.] Et les sages ne sont pas d'accord avec lui. [Car ils soutiennent qu'ils sont une seule sainteté. Et la halakha est conforme aux sages vis-à-vis des deux jours de Roch Hachana. Car ce n'est pas à cause du seul doute que deux jours ont été institués, (doute quant à) si Beth-din avait sanctifié le trentième jour ou le trente et unième jour et l'un d'eux est chol (c'est-à-dire, pas yom tov), mais aussi à cause de la possibilité que des témoins (soient venus) du minchah, auquel cas ce jour est observé comme saint, et le lendemain comme saint, les deux (ensemble) étant considérés comme une seule sainteté. Mais avec les autres fêtes de l'exil, où ils ont institué deux jours uniquement à cause du doute, nous ne savons pas quand le grand Beth-Din avait sanctifié la nouvelle lune, les sages sont d'accord avec R. Yehudah qu'ils sont deux sainteté distinctes. (Les «sages» ici sont 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.
