Un mavui (un vicolo) che è più alto di venti cubiti —diminuisce. [Un mavui che non è più largo di sedici cubiti, anche se è aperto alle sue due estremità di dominio pubblico; oppure, largo sedici cubiti, ma non mefulash (aperto su entrambe le estremità), ma un'estremità aperta al pubblico dominio e l'altra chiusa—Secondo la legge della Torah è consentito trasportarvi senza alcun tikun (atto di modifica). Ma i rabbini lo decretarono per timore che egli venisse a portarlo di dominio pubblico e glielo permisero con un lechi (un paletto fissato nel terreno) o una korah (un raggio, posto di traverso) per servire da segno. Se posizionava la korah più in alto di venti "diminuisce". Cioè, abbassa la korah sotto i venti. Per oltre venti l'occhio non se ne accorge. Ma se ci sono amaltera, cioè disegni e sculture, anche sopra venti cubiti, non è necessario abbassarli; perché gli amaltera lo fanno notare.] R. Yehudah dice: Non è necessario. [Ai fini della korah non è servire come segno ma agire come una partizione. Perché diciamo: "La bocca del soffitto scende e si chiude". Stando così le cose, che differenza fa se si trova entro venti cubiti o più? L'halachah non è conforme a R. Yehudah.] E se è più largo di dieci cubiti, diminuisce. [Perché se è più largo di dieci cubiti, non si chiama "apertura", ma "breccia" e abbiamo bisogno di un'apertura. Pertanto, riduce la larghezza dell'ingresso fino a quando non è di dieci o meno.] Ma se ha un apetach tzurath ("l'apparenza di un ingresso"), anche se è più largo di dieci cubiti, non è necessario che diminuisca. [Ovunque i saggi dicano "tzurath hapetach", bastano persino un bastone da un lato e un bastone dall'altro, venti cubiti o più, e un bastone sopra di loro, anche se non li tocca, e anche se è più di tre cubiti sopra di loro. Tutti i "cubiti" (amoth) menzionati in questa Mishnah e in tutta Eruvin, Succah e Kilayim, sono un'ama di sei tefachim (handbreadths); ogni tefach, quattro dita e il pollice. È solo che a volte la misurazione deve essere effettuata con "tefach atzev", cioè non lasciando alcuno spazio tra i due pollici, ma facendoli toccare; e, a volte, con lo spazio tra i due pollici, senza averli toccati, questo viene chiamato "tefach sochek". Come mai? Quando la misurazione con tefach atzev è per rigore (di potere), come con un mavui superiore a venti cubiti, nel qual caso deve diminuire, e con una succah superiore a venti cubiti, che è pasul (inadatto), misura con tefach atzev. E quando la misurazione con tefach sochek è per rigore, come con un mavui, che non può essere inferiore a dieci tefachim, e con una succah inferiore a dieci tefachim, egli misura con un sochek tefach; e così, in tutti i casi.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
מבוי – which is not wide sixteen cubits, even though it is open from its two points into the public domain; alternatively, it is sixteen cubits wide but it is not open, but one head is open to the public domain and the other head is closed, but from the Torah, it is permitted to carry in it without any repair, but the Rabbis made a decree against it, lest they come to carry in full public domain and they permitted with an establishment of a stake fastened in the ground (by the side of a wall, serving as a mark or as a fictitious partition for the purpose of enabling those who live in an ally to move objects on the Sabbath) or a beam/post so that it will have recognition/a sign. But if he placed the beam above twenty cubits high, he should lower it, meaning to say, he should lower the beam so that it will be lower than twenty cubits high, for higher than twenty cubits, it is not discernible to the eye/the eye is attracted, and if [his] beam has a ceiling (see Talmud Eruvin 3a – for different opinions of the meaning of his word), which means drawings/embroidery and is open even higher than twenty cubits, he does not have to lower it, for through these drawings/embroidery, it is discernible to the eye/the eye is attracted.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Introduction
The first mishnah in Eruvin deals with the entrance to a closed alley. As we mentioned in the introduction, Torah law allows one to carry within this alley. However, the sages forbade this unless there is either a side-post or a cross-beam on top of the entrance. The purpose of either the side-post or the cross-beam was so that people would recognize that the alley was not a public domain and they would realize that while it is permitted to carry in the alley, it is forbidden to carry in the public domain.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
רבי יהודה אומר א"צ – for the reason of the beam is not because of recognition but because of a partition since we said, the mouth of the ceiling goes down and closes up, and since his is the case, what difference does it make within twenty [cubits] and/or higher than twenty [cubits], but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
[The crossbeam] of an alley [whose entrance] is more than twenty cubits high should be lowered. Rabbi Judah says: this is unnecessary. The crossbeam cannot be more than twenty cubits high, otherwise people will not notice it. This is the same rule as the sukkah the sukkah’s roof (skhakh) cannot be more than twenty cubits high because people should notice that they are sitting in a sukkah. In both cases, that of the crossbeam and the sukkah, Rabbi Judah rules that they may be more than twenty cubits high.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
והרחב מעשר אמות ימעט – for more than ten cubits, it is not called an opening, but rather a breach, and we require an opening. Therefore, he should reduce the width of the entrance and reduce it to ten [cubits] or less.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
And [any entrance] that is wider than ten cubits should be reduced [in width]. An entrance to an alley may not be more than ten cubits wide for it to be allowed to carry within the alley. If it is more than ten cubits, then it’s not truly an entranceway but a gap in the walls of the alley. If it is more than ten cubits wide he can reduce it in order to carry in the alley.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
ואם יש לו צורת פתח – in every place where the Sages stated “a form of a doorway” (in width), even if his a reed from here and a reed from there ten handbreadths high or more, and a reed on top of them, even though it doesn’t touch them and even though it is higher than them more than three handbreadths. And all of the cubits that are taught in this Mishnah and in all of [Tractates] Eruvin, and Sukkah and Kilayim, a cubit is six handbreadths and each handbreadth is four fingers with the thumb, but sometimes one needs to measure a “sorrowful” (pressed together) handbreadth (i.e., four fingers closely joined), meaning to say, that one should not make a space in the fingers with the thumb between one to the other, but rather, they would be pressed against each other and touching each other, and sometimes, one must make a space between each digit so that they do not touch each other and this is called the liberal (or smiling) handbreadth. How is this the case? At the time when the measurement Is with the “sorrowful” (pressed together) handbreadth, it is stringent such as an alley entrance which is higher than twenty cubits, he should lower it, and a Sukkah which higher than twenty cubits is invalid, we measure with a “sorrowful” handbreadth, but at the time when the measurement is with a liberal (or “smiling”) handbreadth which is stringent, such as an alleyway entrance, its height cannot be less than ten handbreadths; a Sukkah which is higher than ten handbreadths, we measure with the liberal handbreadth.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
But if it has the shape of a doorway there is no need to reduce it even though it is wider than ten cubits. If the opening has the shape of a doorway, meaning there are poles on both sides and a beam on top of it, then it looks like an entrance and it may be wider than ten cubits. According to the Rambam, if it has such an opening, the beam may even be more than twenty cubits high.
