Eruvin 62 – One who does not accept the laws of eruv

If one shares a courtyard with an idolater or with someone who does not accept the laws of the eruv, then the laws of the eruv do not apply, and one cannot carry in his courtyard. Why is that? Eruv (common food) makes everybody into one family, so that it is not many families living in this courtyard, but just one. If so, one can carry in this courtyard, because nobody is going to confuse this situation with carrying in a public street. However, one who does not agree with the rules of the eruv cannot join it.

What is to be done? The residents of the courtyard can rent the rights of carrying from the idolater by giving him money or food. They need his agreement for that, but even that of his wife or his servant will also suffice.

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yakov adds the the idolater only restricts when there are at least two Jews in the same courtyard, and Rabbi Meir says that even for one Jewish resident it is a problem. What is their disagreement? Rabbi Eliezer is of the opinion that it is unusual for one Jew to live with an idolater, because he would be afraid to be killed – and the Sages never make their decrees for unusual situations. If so, what does Rabbi Meir reply? – He says that occasionally a Jew may be forced to live alone with an idolater, and thus the eruv limitation still applies.

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Eruvin 61 – Two towns, a small and a large one

If there are two towns in the proximity of one another, then on Shabbat the residents of the large town can walk through the small town, but the residents of the small town cannot walk through the whole large town. Why?

Residents of both towns were measuring their techum (walking distance on Shabbat). The techum of the small town dwellers ended in the middle of the large town, and they were not allowed to go any further. However, the eruv of the large town dwellers overran the complete small town. In that case, the complete small town counts as if it was only 4 steps, and the residents of the large town thus gained a large distance (the complete size of the small town minus four steps) added to their eruv.

Had they placed their eruv food in the other town, they would always count the town as four steps, and in addition have two thousand steps beyong. Rabbi Akiva disagrees with this last rule. He said to the Sages, "Don't you agree that if one places the eruv in a cave, he only has two thousand steps around himself?" They answered, "Yes, but that it because the cave is not inhabited. By contrast, an inhabited city counts as only four steps, and you have two thousand steps around."

Art: View of a Small Town Square by Jan Van Der Heyden (1637-1712)

Eruvin 60 – The quandary of Abaye

The residents of a town of Kakunaei came to Rav Yosef, asking him to appoint someone to arrange an eruv for them, so that they should be permitted to carry in it on Shabbat. Rav Yosef appointed Abaye, telling him, “Make sure they don't complain.” He meant to do it right by properly observing the rules of exclusion.

Abaye saw in the town some houses that opened toward the river, without an opening toward the city. He said, “Let these houses be the ones excluded from the eruv.” However, he then reconsidered, saying that the rule stated  “excluded,” which means that they potentially could be included, and these houses cannot be included anyway, because their courtyards don't open into the city.

He then thought of asking them to make windows in those houses. However, then he reconsidered again, citing a different precedent with ditches separating neighborhoods which nevertheless joined in a common eruv. Then he reconsidered again, because in the precedent of ditches they could use roofs for connection, had they wanted to, but it was not so in the town of Kakunaei. Again he considered making windows. And then he remembered a case where a storehouse, where people did not even live, was used as an excluded area, and thus concluded that waterfront houses could be used to satisfy the exclusion rule. Then he said, “That is was Rav Yosef meant, saying that they should not complain – I could have forced them to make windows for no purpose.”

If one told his son to place his eruv to the east of town, for him being able to walk there on Shabbat, but the son placed it more than two thousand steps away – it is invalid, and he keeps the techum of his town.

Art: Windows by Henri Eugene Augustin Le Sidaner 1862-1939

Eruvin 59 – A city of one owner

Only an expert surveyor can be tasked with measuring the techum (Shabbat walking distance) of a city. If, nevertheless, he made mistake and his measurement was not a perfect rectangle, we accept the side with the longer measurement – because of the rule that in techum we follow the most lenient approach possible.

A town may be surrounded by a fence, common food may be placed in one of the houses, and this will create an “eruv” which will permit the people of the town to carry in its streets on Shabbat. Even so, one must leave an area of the town outside the eruv. This is needed mostly for the children: they will know that there is an area of town where carrying is prohibited, and will be reminded of the laws of not carrying on Shabbat and of the eruv. However, if the town belongs to one owner, one can include all of it in the eruv, and he does not need to leave a part outside an eruv. So too, if the town used to belong to one individual but grew, and now belongs to many, one can still include it all in one eruv, because of the town's prior history. On the other hand, if the town used to belong to multiple owners but now belongs to one, leaving a portion of it outside the eruv is required.

How large should be the portion outside the eruv? – As large as the town which used to be in Judea called “Chadashah,” with the population of fifty people. Some say, three courtyards with at least two houses each.

Art: Young Peasant Woman with Three Children at the Window by Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller (1793-1865)

Eruvin 58 – The act of measuring

The techum distance that limits walking on Shabbat should be measured only with a rope fifty-amah (about 100 feet) long, no more and no less. Both surveyors must hold their end of the rope next to the heart. If one, for example, would measure next to the heart and the other next to the head, they would be shortchanging the eruv.

If, while measuring, they reached a valley or a stone fence which are less then fifty steps wide, they pull the rope straight over these obstacles, and continue measuring. This is called spanning the mountain. If the hill is very high, they can use poles to pass the rope over.

If the hill or mountain is large, they "pierce through it" by walking up the hill, with one of them holding the rope at his heart and the other – at his feet, in such a way that the rope is always parallel to the horizon. In no event are they allowed to leave the area of the techum while measuring, for if they do, the onlookers might think that the techum reaches to the place where they were.

Spanning and piercing the mountains are a leniency, because they allow for longer distances. By contrast, in measuring for the laws of the city of refuge, where accidental killers run, and the decapitated calf, which atones for an unsolved murder case by burning the calf and washing the hands – for these laws one measures along the walking path, which results in a shorter distance.

Art: Albert Bierstadt - Mountain Landscape

Eruvin 57 – Backyard

In describing the open area around the city of the Levites (and it is from here that the limitation of not walking past two thousand steps from one's residence on Shabbat is derived), the Torah said, "From the wall of the cit and outward." The extra "and outward" tells us that we need to add the area of a backyard (about seventy steps) before the two thousand steps begin.

This, however, is only the opinion of Rabbi Meir. Other Sages had a different tradition about this law: while it is true that the concept of adding a backyard exists, it is only applicable to two separate nearby cities, as follows. Each city is given an additional backyard, and if these backyards intersect, then the cities are considered as one, and the two-thousand step techum is measured for them together.

Art: Vincent Van Gogh - Sien's Mother's House Seen from the Backyard

Eruvin 56 – East and west

When one draws the rectangular techum boundary around a city, he aligns it with the directions of the world, north, south, east, and west. For this, he can use the stars: Taurus will point out the north, and Scorpio – the south. If he does not know how to find these constellations, he can use the sun. On the longest day of the year the sun rises and sets in two points which together indicate the north, and on the shortest day of the year he can determine the south. The Talmud continues discussing the constellations and their influences on the world.

In measuring the rectangular area of the techum (or a square for a round city), one makes sure to include the corners, thus gaining more walkable distance. When there is a possibility of drawing the techum in two different ways, he should prefer the one that gives more room. In general, the law of the techum follows the Sage with the most lenient opinion. That is because the two thousand steps limitation on walking on Shabbat and Festival is only a safeguard around the fifteen thousand limit prescribed by the Torah.

Art: Sir James Thornhill - Constellation of Taurus,  from Atlas Coelestis