Seul un mumcheh [un expert en mesure] prend la mesure. [Le Gaon l'explique comme dans (Nombres 34:11): "Umachah ('Et il frappera') la pente de la mer de Kinereth." Autrement dit, le tchum doit être mesuré ab initio à partir d'un endroit droit et plat, où il n'est pas nécessaire de "percer".] S'il était plus à un endroit et moins à un autre [c'est-à-dire, si les signes d'un tchum ( mesure) projetées au-delà de celles du coin opposé], nous suivons la plus grande [et écartons la mesure la plus courte; car (nous supposons que) il n'a pas étiré la corde assez fort pour commencer. Et il est enseigné dans le Tosefta qu'il doit l'étirer de toutes ses forces.] Si c'était plus pour un et moins pour un autre [C'est ce que cela signifie: si deux experts le mesuraient, et il (la mesure) était plus pour l'un et moins pour l'autre], la plus grande mesure est suivie. On pense même qu'un esclave et même une esclave disent: «Jusqu'à ce que ce soit le tchum Shabbath». Car les sages ont institué ceci (le tchum) non pour la rigueur (de la réglementation) mais pour la clémence.
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
אין מודדין אלא מן המומחה – a person who is a specialist in measuring, and the Gaon explained that the word מומחה is the language from (Numbers 34:11): “and abut on the eastern [slopes] of the Sea of Chinnereth/Kinneret,” meaning to say that they intent to measure the bottom ab initio from the place that is level and straight, in order that they would not need to perforate.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Introduction
This mishnah continues to deal with measuring the Shabbat limit.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
ריבה למקום אחד ומיעט למקום אחר – that they found signs of this [Sabbath] limit long and protruding corresponding to the signs of the [Sabbath] limit in the corner that is opposite it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
They measure [the Shabbat limit] only through an expert. The Shabbat limit should be measured only by an expert at taking such measurements. As we saw in yesterday’s mishnah, taking such measurements was not easy, so it is understandable why the rabbis required this to be done by an expert.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
שומעין למקום שריבה – and we remove the shorter measurement, that is corresponding it, because it did not initially stretch the rope all the way. And it is taught in the Tosefta [Eruvin 4:`6 – in the Lieberman edition – but it is in chapter 6 according to the Erfurt manuscript] that he must stretch it with all of his strength [and measure].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
If he extended the limit at one point and limited it at another, they observe the place where he extended it. There are several different explanations for this section. The Rambam, basing himself on the Talmud, explains that this refers to an expert who measured the limit and it was longer than the people of the city thought at one point, but shorter at another point. The mishnah teaches that just as the people of the city must listen to the expert’s measurement for where he limited the size, so too they may listen to him with regard to the place where he expanded it. Others explain that on one side he came up with two different measurements. For instance, his measurement to the northeast was longer than that to the southeast. In such a situation we assume that the shorter measurement was mistaken and we listen to the longer one.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
ריבה לאחד ומיעט לאחר – this is what he said: if there was a greater distance for one [expert] and a lesser distance for the other [expert], for the two people who measured were experts – this one had a greater distance and the other a lesser distance.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
If there was one who made it a greater distance and one who made it a lesser distance, the greater distance is observed. If two experts come up with different measurements, the bigger measurement is observed.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Even a slave and even a female slave are believed when they say, “Thus far is the Shabbat limit”, since the sages did not enact the law in order to be strict but in order to be lenient. Anybody is trustworthy to testify concerning where the Shabbat limit is, even slaves and female slaves who normally cannot testify. In Ketuboth 2:10 we also learned that the rabbis allowed minors to testify where the Shabbat border was, or more precisely they allow a person who has reached majority age to testify where the Shabbat border was when they were a minor. The mishnah explains that the rules concerning the Shabbat limit were meant to create leniencies, to allow people to travel further, and not to be stringent. This is because going past the Shabbat limit is only a rabbinic prohibition (derabanan), and therefore in cases of doubt, the halakhah can be lenient.
