פירוש על עירובין 4:1

מי שהוציאוהו עובדי כוכבים – to force him [to go] outside the [Sabbath] limit/the marked off area around a town within which it is permitted to move on the Sabbath – based upon Exodus 16:29 – two thousand cubits in every direction.

Introduction We have already learned several times that it is forbidden to go beyond a Shabbat border of 2000 cubits, measured from where a person is or the town in which he is in when Shabbat begins. Our mishnah deals with a person who finds himself against his will outside of this border.

או רוח רעה – a demon entered in him and confused his mind and he went outside the [Sabbath] limit and he returned to his sanity and behold he was outside the [Sabbath] limit.

One whom Gentiles, or an evil spirit, have taken out [beyond the Shabbat border] has no more than four cubits [in which to move]. In this case a person was taken out of his Shabbat border against his will, either by Gentiles or by an evil spirit (i.e. he lost his wits). Despite the fact that this is not his fault, once outside his border he may not move more than four cubits in any direction. This is the same rule as for one who left his Shabbat border intentionally he may move only four cubits. The idea comes from Exodus 16:29, “Let everyone remain where he is.” Four cubits is composed of three for a person’s body and one so he can stretch out his legs in other words, that is “where he is.”

החזירוהו לתוך התחום כאילו לא יצא – for behold the entire city is like four hundred cubits to him as it was at the outset and two-thousand cubits in every direction when they carried him out and returned him against his will, but if he left under his own power even though he was returned against his will or he was carried out against his will and returned under his own power, he has nothing ought four cubits.

If they brought him back, it is as if he had never gone out. He is not allowed to return to his town but if the Gentiles or evil spirit brings him back he returns to being like the other people of his town, who may go anywhere in the town and 2000 cubits outside of it in each direction. The Talmud notes that if he returns intentionally or if he left intentionally but was returned by Gentiles, he does not return to being able to go anywhere in the town, but rather even within the town he may only go four cubits.

הוליכוהו לעיר אחרת – and behold it is surrounded by partitions or that they placed him in a pen or in a stable which are surrounded and their enclosing fence is large.

If they took him to another town, or if they put him in a pen or a sahar: Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah say he may move throughout the entire area; But Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiva says: he has only four cubits [in which to move]. In this section he is taken out of the town where he began Shabbat and moved to another town. Alternatively, he is taken out of his town and put into a pen or sahar (a type of pen, see above 3:2) in which one may walk without limit on Shabbat. According to Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, he may walk throughout either the city or the pen, and we treat the situation as if he began Shabbat there. Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiva disagree and hold that since he did not begin Shabbat there he is only allowed to walk four cubits.

מהלך את כולה – for since it is surrounded by partitions, it is like four cubits.

It once happened that they were coming from Brindisi and their ship sailed out to sea [on Shabbat]. Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah walked about throughout its area, but Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiba did not move beyond four cubits because they wanted to be stringent upon themselves. In this story, Rabbi Joshua, Rabbi Akiva, Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah are on an anchored boat when Shabbat begins. In this situation they can walk throughout the entire boat, although they may not disembark on Shabbat. The boat then sailed off without their consent and went past their Shabbat limit. The latter two rabbis continued to walk about the boat, because they hold that if Gentiles (the sailors in this case) take a Jew beyond his Shabbat limit to another town, he is treated as a person who began Shabbat in that town. Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiva remained within four cubits, just as they held with regard to a person taken out of his town and brought to another town. However, the mishnah notes that this is not the law but rather a stringency. The halakhah itself distinguishes between a person who is taken from one town to another and one whose ship sets sail for two reasons. First of all, Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiva were on the ship when Shabbat began and therefore when Shabbat began they could walk throughout the entire ship. Secondly, a ship’s position is constantly changing such that no one can truly stay within four cubits in any case. They probably wished to be strict upon themselves so that people wouldn’t think that in the case of a person brought to a pen or another city he too may walk throughout the entire area.

ר' יהושע ור' עקיבא אומרים אין לו אלא ארעב אמות – for since he did not make Shabbat in the empty space with partitions while it was still daylight, the partitions have no effect for him. But my teachers/rabbis explained that since they decreed that a pen or a stable is on account of an unguarded field, which has no partitions and in an unguarded field, all the world admits that he doesn’t have anything other than four cubits.

מפרנדיסין – name of a place.

והפליגה – when it becomes distant from the shoreline and enters into the middle of it (i.e., the ocean), it is called separation on the language of (Psalms 1:3): “[He is like a tree planted] beside streams of water.”

הלכו את כולה – they were walking throughout the ship and even though the ship traveled on the Sabbath and went outside of the [Sabbath] limit, it is like someone who went outside of the [Sabbath] limit and was placed in a pen or a stable for the ship is surrounded by partitions.

שרצו להחמיר על עצמן – that for them, they decreed that a pen or a stable is on account of an unguarded field on the ship; all the while that it is traveling, it is permitted to walk throughout it and furthermore, since they made the Sabbath in the empty space with partitions while it was still daylight, but they wanted to be stringent. But the Halakha is according to Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah.