EIRUVIN - 055a – כיצד מעברין – פרק חמישי – עירובין, נה ע”א

And this is what Avdimi bar Chama bar Dosa said: What is the meaning of that which is written (Devarim 30:12): It is not in heaven, nor is it beyond the sea?^[1]

והיינו דאמר רב אבדימי - what we said, that one must toil, set up mnemonic signs and devise strategies so that the Torah endures in those who learn it — that is what Rav Avdimi said, who explains the inference of the verse: that if it were in heaven, you would need to go up after it.

It is not in heaven — for if it were in heaven, you would need to go up after it; and if it were beyond the sea, you would need to cross over after it.

Rava said: It is not in heaven — it is not found in one who raises himself above it like the heavens, nor in one who broadens himself over it like the sea.

Rabbi Yochanan said: It is not in heaven — it is not found among the haughty; nor is it beyond the sea — it is not found among peddlers or merchants.

סחרנין - who travel around the towns.

תגרין - in their own town, in their place; rather, seen and not seen, as was said above.

The Rabbis taught: How do we extend the boundaries of towns?^[2]

A long one — as it is.

ארוכה כמות שהיא - explained below.

A round one — we make corners for it.

עגולה עושין לה זויות - when he comes to measure the Shabbos boundaries from its ends, he does not measure from the wall, but adds a square to it; that is, he goes out from the wall as far as the square, for we extend corners for all matters of Shabbos; and then he measures the boundaries of the corners. So if he comes to go out by the corner of the town, he gains a quarter in his walking, for a square exceeds a circle by a quarter.

A square one — we do not make corners for it.

מרובעת אין עושין לה זויות - explained below.

If it was wide on one side and narrow on the other — we view it as if it were even.

היתה רחבה מצד זה וקצרה מצד זה רואין אותה כאילו היא שוה - when he comes to measure the boundaries to the west, by the southwest corner, he does not measure from the wall, but goes out and extends westward as far as the point of the northwest corner, which juts out to the west, and measures from there; and likewise for the southeast corner.

If one house projected like a protrusion, or two houses projected like two protrusions — we view them as if a string were stretched across them, and he measures from it two thousand amos onward.^[3]

היה בית אחד בולט - from the town wall on one of the sides: when he comes to measure the northern boundary by the northwest corner, at the place where the house does not project, he goes out from the wall as far as the line where the house's projection ends, toward the northeast corner, as if a string were stretched straight along it from where the house ends to opposite the northwest corner; and he measures from the string two thousand northward.

שני בתים כמין ב' פגומין - it is now assumed to be on one side, and it says we view it as if a string were stretched from one to the other; and below it asks: now that you said one house, need two houses be said?

If it was shaped like a bow or like a gamma — we view it as if it were full of houses and courtyards, and he measures from it two thousand amos onward.

היתה עשויה כמין קשת - where the houses are not at the place of the bowstring.

או כמין גאם - the Greek gimmel, shaped like our bent kaf.

רואין אותה כאילו היא מלאה בתים - when he comes to measure the boundaries to the north, he measures from the string as if it were surrounded by houses; and one who lives in the bow does not begin to measure two thousand northward from his house, but the whole town up to the string counts for him as four amos. And likewise one shaped like a gamma extending from east to west — even though there are no houses in the west, we view the whole empty space as full of houses; and likewise from south to north. And for one who leaves his house, the empty space of the town does not count against him in the measurement.

The master said: A long one — as it is — that is obvious!

ארוכה כמות שהיא פשיטא - could it enter your mind that he would shorten it?

It is needed only where it is long and narrow;

דאריכא וקטינא - narrow in its width.

you might have said: give it width along its length;^[4]

מהו דתימא - he should widen it to the east and west until it is a proper square.

it teaches us otherwise.

קמ"ל - we leave it as it is, for it has corners.

A square one — we do not make corners for it — that is obvious!

It is needed only where it is square but not squared with the world;^[5]

דמרבעא אבל לא מרבעא בריבועו של עולם - that its north faces the world's north and its south the world's south; rather, it stands on a diagonal.

you might have said: square it with the world — it teaches us otherwise.

If one house projected like a protrusion, or two houses projected like two protrusions — now that you said one house, need two houses be said?!

It is needed only on two sides;

לא צריכא לב' רוחות - one to the north and one to the south.

you might have said: on one side we say so, on two sides we do not — it teaches us otherwise.

If it was shaped like a bow or like a gamma, we view it as if it were full of houses and courtyards, and he measures from it two thousand amos onward.

Rav Huna said: A town shaped like a bow — if between its two ends there is less than four thousand amos, we measure for it from the string; and if not, we measure for it from the bow.

בין ב' ראשיה - that is, the length of the string.

פחות מד' אלפים - so that the boundary of this end is absorbed within the boundary of the other end; it becomes one town, and we measure for it from the string and view it as if it were full of houses. And if more, we do not join it into one, and we measure from the bow, for each one from the door of his house, and the empty space of the town, which has no houses, counts in the measurement.

But did Rav Huna say so? Did not Rav Huna say: A town wall that was breached by one hundred forty-one and a third!^[6]

חומת העיר שנפרצה שיעורה בקמ"א ושליש - if the width of the breach is one hundred forty-one and a third amos, which is the measure of two karpefs of seventy amos and a remainder, and they become like two towns to be considered one; and for one who goes from one to the other by way of outside it, the measure of the town does not count toward him. So with more than one hundred forty-one and a third, there is a separation.

Rabbah bar Ulla said: It is not difficult: here, on one side; there, on two sides.

כאן מרוח אחת - a town shaped like a bow is separated only on one side; therefore only at four thousand.

והא - the breached town wall speaks of a breach on two of its sides, opposite each other; therefore they are like two towns — for example, where there is no settlement in the empty space of the town opposite the breaches.

And what does he teach us? That we give a karpef to this one and a karpef to that one?

ומאי קמ"ל - if on two sides, where they are certainly like two towns, why did Rav Huna teach us that we give a karpef to this one and a karpef to that one? That two towns near each other are each given a karpef of seventy amos and a remainder to be like one town, to join them through these karpefs into one town, even though there is no building between the karpefs, and the karpefs themselves are not enclosed by a partition — he means only the measure of a karpef.

Rav Huna already said this once, as we learned^[7]

Tosafos

אם היה בית אחד יוצא כמין פגום - it seems that for one protrusion too we view it as if there were another protrusion opposite it and stretch a string across them, and not that we stretch the string diagonally from the protrusion to the first end of the town; for a town wide on one side we view as if even, and a round one as if square. Now the question is well asked: now that one protrusion etc.

עיר העשויה כקשת - the reason Rav Huna did not state his ruling about two protrusions is that an ordinary protrusion is within seventy amos and a remainder of the main town; and since it is within the town's extension, even if there are more than four thousand between the protrusions, we view it as if a string were stretched across them — even if there are many protrusions one after another, each within seventy amos and a remainder of the next, at the two ends of the town. Perhaps one may distinguish that protrusions, which are not part of the main town, are included with the town even without absorption of boundaries, because they are subordinate to the town; but the two ends of the bow, which are part of the main town, are not subordinate to the town, so absorption of boundaries is needed. However, the Ri holds that there is no distinction between two protrusions and a town shaped like a bow, and so explained Rabbeinu Chananel; and the reason Rav Huna did not state his ruling about two protrusions is that the beraisa does not deal with two protrusions on one side, but with one protrusion.

פחות מד' אלפים מודדין מן היתר - Rabbah bar Rav Huna, shortly, also requires that between the string and the bow there not be more than two thousand, because he requires the boundaries to be absorbed on every side. But according to Rava the son of Rabbah bar Rav Huna, who says we measure from the string even if there are more than two thousand between the string and the bow, because if he wishes he can come back by way of the houses, and he does not require absorption except on one side — it seems that according to him too, if there are only two thousand between the string and the bow, we measure from the string even if there are more than four thousand between the two ends of the bow, for he can come by way of the string from one end to the other, since the string is absorbed within the bow.

ואם לאו מודדין לה מן הקשת - not from the bow itself, but from the place where it narrows inward and there are not four thousand, for it is no worse than if the upper part were removed. And Rabbeinu Chananel explained a town shaped like a bow as one that does not progressively narrow.

Notes

1. 1. Had the Torah been in heaven, one would have had to go up after it — so one must toil greatly for it to endure in him.
2. 2. Me'abrin — extending a town's outline in order to measure the Shabbos boundary from it.
3. 3. Two thousand amos — the Shabbos boundary, measured from the edge of the town.
4. 4. Putya — width: adding width along its length so that it becomes square.
5. 5. Squared with the world — its sides aligned with the four directions.
6. 6. One hundred forty-one and a third amos — two karpefs of seventy amos and a remainder.
7. 7. The text continues on 55b.