Se uno trova tefillin [nel campo, in un luogo in cui non sono custoditi (contro la contaminazione)], li porta dentro, coppia per coppia, [uno (filatterio) sulla sua testa e uno sul braccio, mentre li indossa durante la settimana, essendo questa una "coppia". E continua a tornare e a mettere in coppia finché non li ha portati tutti dentro. Sostiene che la mitzvah di tefillin ottiene su Shabbath, ma che i saggi hanno decretato contro di essa (indossando tefillin su Shabbath) per non strappare la cinghia e li trasporta ( in un dominio proibito) nella sua mano. E se indossa più di una coppia, trasgredisce il divieto di aggiungere al mitzvoth, in modo che diventino come un peso (proibito).] R. Gamliel dice: Due (coppie) per due. [R. Gamliel sostiene che la mitzvah di tefillin non si ottiene su Shabbath e che i rabbini hanno permesso di "salvarli", poiché sono considerati ornamenti. Pertanto, possono essere introdotte due coppie alla volta, due coppie sono ornamentali. Perché abbiamo appreso che c'è spazio sulla testa per due filatteri e finché è ornamentale è permesso. E non c'è trasgressione del divieto di aggiungere al mitzvoth qui, perché non c'è affatto mitzvah di tefillin (su Shabbath), ma (sono considerati come) gli ostacoli in generale. L'halachah non è conforme a R. Gamliel.] Quando è così? Con quelli vecchi, [dove il nodo è riconoscibile come un nodo di tefillin, nel qual caso essi sono (noti per essere) oggetti santi, che potrebbero non essere lasciati in un luogo di (possibile) contaminazione.], Ma con quelli nuovi, egli è esente. [Non profanare il Sabbath per amor di loro, perché potrebbero essere solo un amuleto. Possiedono la santità solo quando sono fatti secondo l'halachah per il bene della mitzvah (del tefillin). Se ha trovato (molti) set accoppiati o [molti (singoli filatteri)], li aspetta [proteggendoli] fino a quando non si fa buio, quando li mette tutti insieme. Questo, quando sono così tanti che se li portasse in coppia per coppia non sarebbe in grado di portarli tutti al calar della notte. (Perché se potevano essere portati in coppia per coppia al calar della notte, è quello che fa, come detto sopra)]. E in tempo di pericolo [cioè, quando i poteri al potere decretarono di non indossare tefillin], li copre e continua. [La nostra Mishnah è difettosa. Questo è ciò che è stato insegnato: "Quando è così? In un momento di pericolo di shmad (persecuzione religiosa). Ma se ha paura di rimanere lì a causa dei ladri, li trasporta meno di quattro cubiti alla volta."]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
המוצא תפילין – in a field in a place where they (i.e., the Tefillin) are not guarded.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
Introduction
The final chapter of Eruvin is a sort of appendix to all of tractates Shabbat and Eruvin. It contains assorted rules which deal with both topics.
Today’s and tomorrow’s mishnah deals with a person who finds a pair of tefillin in the public domain and wishes to bring them into the private domain to protect them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
זוג זוג – one for the head and another for the arm, in the manner that one dons them on weekdays, and that is as a pair, and then he always returns them and brings them in pair by pair until he brings in all of them, as he (i.e., the anonymous Tanna of our Mishnah) holds that Shabbat is a time for Tefillin, but the Sages made a decree upon them lest a strap breaks and he brings them with his hand, and if he were to don more than one pair, there is [the problem] of “not adding [to the commandment]” and this prohibition of “not adding” compares them upon him as a burden. But Rabban Gamaliel holds that Shabbat is not a time for Tefillin and that is the reason why the Rabbis permit saving them because it is adornment; hence, we bring them in two pairs at a time. For two pairs are an adornment since we taught that where there is on the head a place to wear two Tefillin, and all the while that they are an adornment, it is permitted, but because of [the prohibition of]“not adding” doesn’t apply here, for there is no commandment of Tefillin here at all, other than the rest of mere clothing. But the Halakha is not according to Rabban Gamaliel.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
One who finds tefillin should bring them in one pair at a time. Rabban Gamaliel says: two pairs at a time. One who finds tefillin in a place where they may come to be damaged should not just leave them there. However, on Shabbat he cannot just carry them to safety because of the prohibition against carrying. According to the first opinion in the mishnah, he should put on a pair at a time and wear them until he can get them to a safe place. Then he should remove the pair he is wearing and go out and bring in another pair. The reason that this is allowed is that he is considered to be “wearing” the tefillin and not to be carrying them. A “pair” refers to a set one box for the head and one for the arm. Rabban Gamaliel holds that he can put two pairs on at the same time, because there is room on one’s head for two boxes and on one’s arm for two as well.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
בישנות – where the knot is recognized (i.e., in old Tefillin) that they are definitely Tefillin and they have sanctity, and it is prohibited to place them in a contemptable location, but new Tefillin, we do not desecrate the Sabbath for them to bring them in for perhaps there are a mere amulet, and there is no sanctity other when they are made according to Jewish law for their purpose [of being Tefillin].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
To what does this apply? To old ones but in the case of new ones he is exempt. The previous halakhah refers only to old sets of tefillin, tefillin which we know were made properly and are valid. However, new pairs of tefillin may not even actually be tefillin (they could be amulets), and even if they are tefillin, they may have been made improperly. Therefore, he is neither mandated to carry them in nor even allowed to do so.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
צבותים – each pair of Tefillin is tied to itself.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
If he found them arranged in a set or in bundles he shall wait by them until it is dark and then bring them in. If he finds many sets of tefillin in one place, he can’t bring them in because there are just too many to carry in one (or two) sets at a time. Neither should he just leave them there because they could be damaged. His only option is to sit and guard them until Shabbat is over.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
כרוכים – many pairs [of Tefillin are tied] together.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eruvin
In a time of danger, he should cover them and walk away. Guarding or wearing lost tefillin in a time of danger is not mandated. One shouldn’t endanger one’s life to protect a pair of tefillin. Therefore, if it is dangerous to either wear or guard them, the mishnah gives one permission to first cover them up so that they will not be noticed, and then to walk away and leave them there. The “danger” referred to in our mishnah refers to a time when the Roman authorities forbade the observance of commandments. This is probably the Hadrianic persecutions which preceded and followed the Bar-Kokhba revolt in 135 C.E. We should note that the Talmud ties the debate in section one to the issue of whether or not one is commanded to wear tefillin on Shabbat. Some tannaim hold that one does not wear tefillin on Shabbat and some hold that they are worn. The accepted halakhah is that they are not worn.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
מחשיך עליהן – he sits and guards them until it becomes dark, and once it becomes dark, he brings all of them in together as in the case when they are many. For if he were to bring them pair by pair, he would not complete his bringing them in prior to the night, and if they are in a manner that he would complete bringing them in to the house before the night, he brings them in pair by pair as we stated.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eruvin
ובסכנה – when they decreed religious persecution [against the Jewish religion] to not wear Tefillin, and our Mishnah is deficient and should be read as follows: when is this said, in the danger of religious persecution, but if he fears to delay there because of robbers, he carries them less than four cubits.
