Eruvin 114

הא מני ר' מאיר היא

This<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The final clause just cited.');">¹</span> is the view of<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'this according to whom?'');">²</span> R'Meir.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It is not the conclusion of the ruling of the Sages, but a continuation of R. Meir's ruling with which our Mishnah began.');">³</span>

אי רבי מאיר היא הא תני ליה רישא נותנין קרפף לעיר דברי רבי מאיר

But if this is the view of R'Meir [the objection arises:] Was it not already enunciated in the first clause: A KARPAF IS ALLOWED FOR EVERY TOWN; SO R'MEIR? - [Both were] required. For if [the law were to be derived] from the former only it might have been presumed that one karpaf is allowed for one town and one is also allowed for two towns,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The purpose of the ruling being that every town shall have a karpaf but not one exclusively for itself.');">⁴</span> hence we were informed<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By the final clause.');">⁵</span>

צריכא דאי מההיא הוה אמינא חד לחדא וחד לתרתי קמ"ל דלתרתי תרי יהבינן להו

that for two towns two karpafs are allowed. And if we had been informed of the latter only it might have been assumed [that R'Meir's view<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That karpafs are at all allowed.');">⁶</span> applied to such a case only] because [one karpaf is too] cramped for the use of two towns, but not in the former case<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' One town surrounded by open country.');">⁷</span>

ואי אשמעינן הכא משום דדחיקא תשמישתייהו אבל התם דלא דחיקא תשמישתייהו אימא לא צריכא

where the space is not too cramped.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In such a case, it might have been assumed, R. Meir allows no karpaf at all.');">⁸</span> [Hence both were] required. We learned: SO ALSO WHERE THREE VILLAGES ARE ARRANGED IN THE SHAPE OF A TRIANGLE, IF BETWEEN THE TWO OUTER ONES THERE WAS A DISTANCE OF A HUNDRED AND FORTY-ONE AND A THIRD CUBITS, THE MIDDLE ONE CAUSES ALL THE THREE OF THEM TO BE REGARDED AS ONE.

תנן וכן שלשה כפרים המשולשין אם יש בין שנים החיצונים מאה וארבעים ואחת אמה ושליש עושה אמצעי את שלשתן להיות אחד טעמא דאיכא אמצעי הא ליכא אמצעי לא תיובתא דרב הונא

The reason then<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Why the two outer villages may be regarded as one despite the distance of a hundred and forty-one and a third cubits intervening.');">⁹</span> is because there was one in the middle, but if there had been none in the middle the outer two villages would not have been combined. Is not this<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The requirement of a third village between the other two.');">¹⁰</span>

אמר לך רב הונא הא אתמר עלה אמר רבה אמר רב אידי א"ר חנינא לא משולשין ממש אלא רואין כל שאילו מטיל אמצעי ביניהן ויהיו משולשין ואין בין זה לזה אלא ק"מ אמה ואחת ושליש עשה אמצעי את שלשתן להיות אחד

an objection against R'Huna?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who allowed a karpaf for every town (or village) and according to whom the two outer villages would have been combined into one, even in the absence of the third village, owing to the fact that no more than the space of two karpafs (2 X 70 2/3 = 141 1/3 cubits) intervened between them.');">¹¹</span> - R'Huna can answer you: Surely, in connection with this ruling it was stated: Rabbah<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Var. lec. 'Raba', 'It. Adda'.');">¹²</span> in the name of R'Idi who had it from R'Hanina explained: There is no need for the villages to be arranged in the shape of an equilateral<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'actually'.');">¹³</span>

א"ל רבא לאביי כמה יהא בין חיצון לאמצעי א"ל אלפים אמה

triangle<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Sc. that 'the distance between any two of them shall be no greater than a hundred and forty-one and a third cubits.');">¹⁴</span> but that if on observation it is found that with the middle one placed between the other two they would form a triangle, and there would be between the one and the other<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' l.e., 'the middle village and any of the other two.');">¹⁵</span> a distance of no more than a hundred and forty-one and a third cubits<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A distance that is equal to that of two karpafs on either side of the middle village.');">¹⁶</span>

והא את הוא דאמרת כוותיה דרבא בריה דרבה בר רב הונא מסתברא דאמר יותר מאלפים אמה

the middle one causes all the three of then, to be regarded as one.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Even though the distance between the two outer ones is much greater than a hundred and forty-one and a third cubits.');">¹⁷</span> Said Raba to Abaye: What [maximum distance] is allowed between an outer village and the middle one?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If it is desired that the middle one shall cause ALL THE THREE OF THEM TO BE REGARDED AS ONE.');">¹⁸</span> - 'Two thousand cubits',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A Sabbath limit. Since it is permitted to walk without an 'erub between the middle one and either of the others it is also permitted to regard the former as placed between the latter.');">¹⁹</span>

הכי השתא התם איכא בתים הכא ליכא בתים

the other replied.' But did you not say', the former asked: 'that logical reasoning is in agreement with Raba the son of Rabbah son of R'Huna who ruled that a perpendicular distance of more than two thousand cubits was allowed? '<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Between the middle point of the bow-string and the arch, in the case of a town that was built in the shape of a bow (supra 55b) .');">²⁰</span> 'What a comparison!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'thus now'.');">²¹</span>

ואמר ליה רבא לאביי כמה יהא בין חיצון לחיצון כמה יהא מאי נפקא לך מינה כל שאילו מכניס אמצעי ביניהן ואין בין זה לזה אלא מאה וארבעים ואחת ושליש

There, houses are in existence,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Throughout the area of the arch to either end of the imaginary string, so that it is possible to reach the 'string' via the bow.');">²²</span> but here there are no houses'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Between the middle village and the others, and all the distance between them must be traversed across open country.');">²³</span> Raba further asked Abaye: What [maximum distance] is allowed between the two outer ones? - 'What [distance] is allowed'! What difference does this make in view of the ruling that 'if.

ואפילו ד' אלפים אמה א"ל אין והאמר רב הונא עיר העשויה כקשת אם יש בין ב' ראשיה פחות מארבעת אלפים אמה מודדין לה מן היתר ואם לאו מודדין לה מן הקשת

with the middle one placed between the other two' there remains between them<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., , the confines on either side of the middle one and each of the others.');">²⁴</span> 'a distance of no more than a hundred and forty-one and a third cubits' they are all regarded as one?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which shows that the distance between the outer ones subject to this reservation is of no consequence.');">²⁵</span> - Even if they<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The outer ones.');">²⁶</span>

א"ל התם ליכא למימר מלי הכא איכא למימר מלי

are four thousand cubits distant from one another? - 'Yes', the other replied.' But did not R'Huna lay down: If a town is shaped like a bow then if the distance between its two ends is less than four thousand cubits the Sabbath limits are measured from the bow string, otherwise measuring must begin from the arch? '<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Supra 55a q.v. notes.');">²⁷</span> - 'There', the other replied.'

א"ל רב ספרא לרבא הרי בני אקיסטפון דמשחינן להו תחומא מהאי גיסא דארדשיר ובני (תחומא) דארדשיר משחינן להו תחומא מהאי גיסא דאקיסטפון הא איכא דגלת דמפסקא יתר ממאה וארבעים ואחת ושליש

you cannot say that the distance<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'there is no (reason) to say: Fill', between the houses at the two ends of the bow.');">²⁸</span> is filled up<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since there is nothing wherewith to fill it.');">²⁹</span> but here you can well say so'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'there is (reason) to say: Fill', by regarding the third village as breaking up the distance and reducing it on either side.');">³⁰</span>

נפק אחוי ליה הנך אטמהתא דשורא דמבלעי בדגלת בע' אמה ושיריים:

Said R'Safra to Raba: Behold the people of Ktesifon for whom we measure the Sabbath limits from the further side of Ardashir and the people of Ardashir for whom we measure the Sabbath limit from the further side of Ktesifon;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Two neighbouring places, the former on the eastern and the latter on the western bank of the Tigris, v. Obermeyer pp. 164ff.] Thus assuming that the two towns are combined into one.');">³¹</span> does not the Tigris<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In its course between the two towns.');">³²</span> in fact cut between them a gap wider than a hundred and forty-one and a third cubits?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' How then could the two towns be regarded as one?');">³³</span>

<big><strong>מתני׳</strong></big> אין מודדין אלא בחבל של נ' אמה לא פחות ולא יותר ולא ימדוד אלא כנגד לבו

- The other thereupon went out and showed him the flanks of a wall that projected seventy and two thirds<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit.,'remnants.');">³⁴</span> cubits across the Tigris.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And thus reduced the gap between the buildings of the two towns to less than a hundred and forty one and a third cubits.');">³⁵</span> <big><b>MISHNAH: </b></big>SABBATH LIMITS MAY BE MEASURED ONLY WITH A ROPE OF THE LENGTH OF FIFTY CUBITS NEITHER LESS NOR MORE;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The reason follows in the GEMARA:');">³⁶</span>

היה מודד והגיע לגיא או לגדר מבליעו וחוזר למדתו הגיע להר מבליעו וחוזר למדתו

AND A MAN MAY MEASURE ONLY WHILE HOLDING THE END OF THE ROPE ON A LEVEL WITH HIS HEART.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Sc. each of the two surveyors must hold his end of the measuring rope at a level with his heart, in order to ensure correctness and in the process of measuring. Correctness is impossible where one end of the rope is held at one level and the other end at a higher or lower level, since the distance measured would in this case be less than the full length of the rope.');">³⁷</span> IF IN THE COURSE OF MEASURING THE SURVEYOR REACHED A GLEN OR A FALLEN WALL<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That collapsed in a heap and across which people pass.');">³⁸</span> HE SPANS IT<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [I.e., he takes into consideration only the horizontal span provided it is not more than fifty cubits]. Sc. one man stands on its near side while another stands on its far side, each of them holding one end of the rope which is thus stretched across the glen or the collapsed wall. By this method of measuring one gains for the Sabbath limit the distances taken up by the slopes.');">³⁹</span> AND RESUMES<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This refers to a glen, for instance, that was wider then fifty cubits (cf. n. 7) in a part that faced the town and narrower than fifty cubits in another part that was removed from the town sideways. The surveyor, when reaching the edge of the glen, is in such circumstances allowed to make a detour to the narrower section of the glen, to span it there with the rope, and to continue his measuring until the rope is perpendicular to the line drawn from the point furthest from the town on the far side of the glen. He then RESUMES his measuring from that point to the end of the Sabbath limit.');">⁴⁰</span> HIS MEASURING; IF HE REACHED A HILL HE SPANS IT AND RESUMES HIS MEASURING;