Commentaire sur Rosh Hashanah 2:5

לא היו זזים משם כל היום – the witnesses who went outside of their boundary limits on the Sabbath and came to testify, for one who is outside the boundary, only has his four cubits.

Introduction Our mishnah deals with the witnesses who have come to Jerusalem to testify that they saw the new moon.

There was a large courtyard in Jerusalem, and it was called Bet Yazek. There all the witnesses used to assemble and the court would examine them there. They would make large feasts for them there so that they would have an incentive to come. When the witnesses came to Jerusalem they were directed to a courtyard called Bet Yazek. The court would examine them there, as we shall see in tomorrow’s mishnah. Interestingly, they would make a big feast for them there in order to encourage people to come to testify. We again see how important the testimony concerning the new moon was for the rabbis.

Originally they used not to leave the place the whole day, but Rabban Gamaliel decreed that they could go two thousand cubits from it in any direction. And these were not the only ones [who could go two thousand cubits in any direction], but also a midwife who has come to deliver a child, or one who comes to rescue from a fire or from bandits or from a river in flood or from a building that has fallen in all these are like residents of the town, and may go two thousand cubits [on Shabbat] in any direction. This section deals with the laws of Shabbat border limits, a subject which we learned in greater depth in Eruvin (see especially 4:1-3, for laws which deal with the topic addressed here.) A person is not allowed to go more than 2000 cubits outside of the city in which he began Shabbat. If he does so, he is stuck in his place and can’t walk more than another four cubits. In the case in our mishnah, witnesses came to Jerusalem to testify on Shabbat. This was permitted and indeed encouraged, as we saw in 1:4-5. Our mishnah teaches that originally such a person could not leave the courtyard because a person who leaves his Shabbat border cannot move more than four cubits in any direction. The courtyard which was enclosed was considered to be all within four cubits. However, this would discourage people from coming to Jerusalem to testify because they would know that they would be stuck there the whole day. In order to encourage people to come to testify, Rabban Gamaliel the elder, a sage who lived while the Temple still stood, decreed that they could move about like the rest of the people of the town. This means that they could move around all of Jerusalem and even go outside of the city 2000 cubits in any direction. The mishnah goes on to say that the same ruling applies to anyone who left his Shabbat border for a permitted reason. So a midwife who leaves her Shabbat border limit to go and deliver a child may now go all around the city she came into and may go 2000 cubits in all direction. The same is true for anyone who leaves his Shabbat border limit in order to save property. Since we want to encourage people to do so, they are allowed this concession.