פירוש על עירובין 10:13

מחזירין רטיה – a Kohen that needed to perform the Temple service on Shabbat and took off an emollient that had been on his hand in order that there wouldn’t be an intervening object between his flesh and his Temple service, restores it on top of his wound after the Temple service performed, for if you did not permit him to restore it, he would be prevented and would not perform the Temple service.

Introduction There are three independent sections to this mishnah. What is common to all three is that they mention actions which are permitted on Shabbat in the Temple but not permitted outside of it. As we learned in the previous two mishnayot, in the Temple certain rabbinic prohibitions are waved, under the assumption that even if one performs the activity, one will not come to violate a toraitic prohibition. Another similarity is that in all three cases, under certain circumstances the activity would be prohibited even in the Temple.

אבל לא במדינה – a decree lest he would rub off the emollient and be liable because of rubbing/blotting out.

One may replace a plaster bandage on a wound in the Temple but not in the country. At the outset, it is prohibited in both. This section refers to a priest who has a wound and enters the Temple with a bandage over the wound. Under the bandage is a poultice. If the bandage falls off he may replace it, because the prohibition of putting on a bandage on Shabbat is only of rabbinic origin (shevut), and rabbinic prohibitions are permitted in the Temple. It is prohibited outside the Temple lest one come to prepare a poultice, which is a toraitic prohibition. Finally, the mishnah notes that to put on a new bandage is prohibited in either place because when making a new bandage it is very likely that he will come to prepare a poultice.

ואם בתחלה – it was not attached while it was still daylight and this Kohen did not go up for the needs of the Temple service.

A harp string may be tied up in the Temple but not in the country. At the outset, it is prohibited in both. If a harp string breaks on one of the harps (or other string instruments) in the Temple, it may be tied. Since this prohibition is only of rabbinic origin, it is permitted in the Temple. Outside the Temple it is prohibited. Both in and outside of the Temple, it is forbidden to tie a new harp string to the harp. The commentators explain that this string is tied in a place where it will not remain permanently, for if it was tied permanently it would be a toraitic violation, and hence prohibited in the Temple as well. Finally, if the harp string was not there before Shabbat, he may not tie it there on Shabbat even in the Temple because he should have tied it there before Shabbat.

כאן וכאן אסור – and we don’t say here that there is no issue of doing something forbidden by the Rabbis as being out of harmony with the celebration of the day in the Temple, for it is not for the need of the Most High (i.e., God), but his own need hat the Rabbis forbade restoring the emollient for it is not anything other than spreading it out on the ground, but if he took it in his hand, all the time that it is in his hand or even placed upon a utensil and he didn’t spread it on the ground, it is permissible to restore it, in every case.

One may remove a wart in the Temple but not in the country. If [the operation must be performed] with an instrument it is forbidden in both. A priest who has a wart (a yabelet) may not serve in the Temple (Leviticus 22:22). However, this wart may be removed in the Temple on Shabbat either by picking it off with his hand or biting it off with his teeth, since this is not the normal means by which to remove a wart (sounds quite painful). We have noted on several occasions that if an activity that would normally be prohibited by the Torah is done in an unusual manner, it is only prohibited by rabbinic decree. Since the prohibition is only rabbinic, it is permitted in the Temple. Outside the Temple it remains prohibited. Finally, the wart may not be removed using an instrument in either place, since this would be a toraitic violation.

They may tie up a string - the string of a ‘kinor’ played by the Levites [in the Temple] which snapped on the Sabbath.

ואם בתחלה – he had never been there that he couldn’t have done it from the day before, it is prohibited.

יבלת – it is a blemish on holy things, as it states (Leviticus 22:22): “[Anything blind, or injured, or maimed,] or with a wen, [boil-scar or scurvy – such you shall not offer to the LORD; you shall not put any of them on the altar as offerings by fire to the LORD],” and we cut it off in the Temple by hand for [this act] is nothing other than doing something forbidden by the Rabbis as being out of the harmony of the Sabbath day, and it is done in with the back of the hand/indirectly but not with a utensil, since that is complete work which is how it is accomplished on weekdays, and when you cut it off from a living being, that is a derivative of shearing the wool.