In un luogo in cui era usanza lavorare alla vigilia di Pesach fino a metà giornata, loro (sono autorizzati a) lavorare. In un luogo in cui era usanza non lavorare, [in modo che non si preoccupassero del lavoro e dimenticassero di bruciare il chametz, di massacrare l'offerta di Pesach e di preparare la matzah della mitzvah], non funzionano. Se uno va da un luogo in cui lavora a uno in cui non lavora, o da un luogo in cui non lavora a uno in cui lavora, gli si impongono le rigidità del luogo da cui proviene e il luogo in cui che è andato. E non si dovrebbe deviare a causa della contesa. [Questo è ciò che si intende: se uno va da un luogo in cui non lavora a un luogo in cui lavora, gli si impongono le rigidità del luogo da cui proviene, e non dovrebbe lavorare. Perché noi governiamo "Non deviare dall'usanza della città" solo a causa della contesa. Ma qui non c'è contesa! Per cosa diranno quelli che lo vedono non lavorare? "Sostiene che il lavoro è proibito e non è d'accordo con tutti noi"? Non lo diranno, ma piuttosto: "È senza lavoro". Per "ci sono molti fannulloni sul mercato" ogni giorno dell'anno. E "ci sono imposte le rigidità del luogo da cui è venuto" si applica solo quando intende tornare lì; ma in caso contrario, si deporta come popolo del luogo in cui si recava, sia per leggerezza che per rigore.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
מקום שנהגו עד חצות – until half the day.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
Introduction
Through the middle of mishnah five this chapter deals with customs which differ from place to place. The basic attitude of the Mishnah is that local customs are acceptable, so long as they are not opposed to halakhah. However, complications will arise when people from a place with one custom come to a place with a different custom. This is the specific problem with which our mishnah deals.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
שלא לעשות – in order that he not be busily engaged by his work and he would forget the [obligation of] ridding of the leavened products and the sacrifice of the Passover offering and the preparation of the Matzah for the Mitzvah [of the Seder].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
In a place where it is the custom to do work on the eve of Pesah until midday one may do work; where it is the custom not to do work, one may not do work. Of all the different customs which the first five mishnayot of our chapter will discuss, this is the only one that is connected to Pesah. It is because this collection begins with a custom related to Pesah that the mishnah is found here in Pesahim. In some places it was customary not to work on the morning before Pesah. This was to make sure that people didn’t forget to burn their chametz on time. People who live in a place with such a custom should not work at all on this day. However, people who live in a place where the custom is to do work on the morning before Pesah may indeed work. In any case, even in a place where they are accustomed to work on the eve of Pesah, they only work until midday. Since the Pesah sacrifice could be offered any time after midday, the sages treated this part of the day as if it were a holiday unto itself and they forbade a person to work. Even after the Pesah sacrifice could no longer be offered this prohibition remained in its place. We should note that on the eve of Shabbat and other holidays the sages ruled that it was forbidden to do work from minchah time (the late afternoon) and onward. On Pesah they were stricter and forbade work from midday.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
אל שינה אדם – this is how it should be understood: A person who walks from a place where they don’t do [work] to a place where the do [work], they should place upon him the stringencies of the place where he left from there and not do it (i.e., work), and that is what we hold: A person should not vary from the local custom of the city, it is not because of disputes for here there is no dispute. For what that you said: A person sees him idle would say that this one who is idle is because work is forbidden and that he disputes against all of us; he did not say this, but rather he said: he has no work for how many idle individuals are there in the marketplace all the days of the year. And that which we teach [in this Mishnah] that we lay upon him the strict rules followed in the place from which he has gone forth, is not [in effect] other than when it at the time when it is his intention to return to his place; but if he does not have the intention to return to his place, he practices according to the custom of the people of the place where he went to , whether for leniencies or for stringencies.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
He who goes from a place where they work to a place where they do not work, or from a place where they do not work to a place where they do work, they place upon him the restrictions of the place from where he departed and the restrictions of the place to where he has gone. As is clear when you read this section carefully, whether he comes from a place that doesn’t do work or goes to a place that doesn’t do work, he won’t be allowed to do work on the eve of Pesah. No matter where he is or where he is from, he is always subject to the stricter rule.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
And a man must not act differently [from local custom] on account of the quarrels [which would ensue]. If by not observing the local custom he will cause quarrels then he should not act differently. The simplest meaning of this line is that even if he is going from a place that does not do work to a place that does do work, he should do work if by refraining from work he would cause people to quarrel. In other words, the mishnah wants to make sure that when a person is visiting another place, his customs don’t make other people feel that he is trying to act “holier than thou”. If this will give that impression, then he should observe the local custom.
