What is Talmud Tweets?

What is Talmud Tweets? A short, personal take on a page of Talmud - every day!

For several years now, I have been following the tradition of "Daf Yomi" - reading a set page of Talmud daily. With the start of a new 7 1/2 year cycle, I thought I would share a taste of what the Talmud offers, with a bit of personal commentary included. The idea is not to give a scholarly explanation. Rather, it is for those new to Talmud to give a little taste - a tweet, as it were - of the richness of this text and dialogue it contains. The Talmud is a window into a style of thinking as well as the world as it changed over the centuries of its compilation.

These are not literal "tweets" - I don't limit myself to 140 characters. Rather, these are intended to be short, quick takes - focusing in on one part of a much richer discussion. Hopefully, I will pique your interest. As Hillel says: "Go and study it!" (Shabbat 31a)

Monday, April 15, 2013

Eruvin 38 – Double Holiness or Two of the Same?

The Mishnah makes accomdiations for the times when a festival and Shabbat occur in succession:


MISHNAH. R. ELIEZER RULED: IF A FESTIVAL DAY IMMEDIATELY PRECEDES OR FOLLOWS THE SABBATH A MAN MAY PREPARE TWO ERUVS AND MAKE THE FOLLOWING DECLARATION: MY ERUV FOR THE FIRST [DAY SHALL BE THAT] OF THE EAST AND THE ONE FOR THE SECOND DAY THAT OF THE WEST’; ‘THE ONE FOR THE FIRST DAY [SHALL BE THAT] OF THE WEST AND THE ONE FOR THE SECOND DAY THAT OF THE EAST;

‘MY ERUV [SHALL BE EFFECTIVE] FOR THE FIRST DAY, AND FOR THE SECOND DAY [I SHALL RETAIN THE SAME RIGHTS] AS THE PEOPLE OF MY TOWN’, OR ‘MY ERUV [SHALL BE EFFECTIVE] FOR THE SECOND DAY, AND FOR THE FIRST DAY [I SHALL RETAIN THE SAME RIGHTS] AS THE PEOPLE OF MY TOWN —

THE SAGES, HOWEVER, RULED: HE EITHER PREPARES AN ERUV FOR ONE DIRECTION OR NONE AT ALL; HE EITHER PREPARES ONE ERUV FOR THE TWO DAYS OR NONE AT ALL.

The placement of an eruv meal, as we have seen, allows a person to travel from one 2000 cubit limit to another on Shabbat. This method allows travel in both directions over succeeding Shabbat and Festival days.

However, it rests on the question of can one prepare for a Shabbat on a Festival – that is, are they one entity or two? If two it would not be permitted to prepare the second day two days in advance:
‘Do you not agree’, they again said to R. Eliezer, ‘that It is forbidden to prepare an eruv for the Sabbath on a festival dayfor the first time?’ ‘Indeed [I do]’, he replied. ‘Surely, then’, [they retorted: ‘the two days must be] one entity of holiness’.
And R.Eliezer? — [The restriction] there is due [to the prohibition] of preparing [for the Sabbath on a festival day].
 The decision is split. One day two days long or two days each one day long?
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)