Eruvin 43b (מג:) — the Talmud in English

and it is forbidden to drink wine throughout all the weekdays.

And one might have thought that this is why it is obvious to us that the Messiah will not come on Shabbat or on Festivals: because of the prohibition against leaving one’s תחום. Therefore, we establish the proof as follows:

Granted, if you say that there are תחומין

above ten handbreadths,

this is why on Shabbat and Festivals it is permitted.

But if you say that there are no תחומין

above ten handbreadths, the Messiah could come without violating the prohibition against תחומין;

why, then, is it permitted on Shabbat and Festivals?!

And we reject this:

That case is different;

the reason we are not uncertain that the Messiah might come on Shabbat and Festivals is a different one.

For

it is

stated by the verse: “Behold, I am sending you Elijah the prophet

before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord,” and we learned that on the day before the arrival of the Messiah, son of David [the Gaon of Yaakov in his understanding of Rashi], Elijah will come to announce it to us.

And

this

is because, since we see that

Elijah did not come yesterday

it follows that the Messiah will not come today.

We raise a difficulty concerning this:

If so,

since we rely on the fact that because we do not know that Elijah came to announce it to us, the Messiah will certainly not come today, then

on weekdays as well, every day should likewise be permitted, since Elijah did not come yesterday?!

Rather,

the reason that in fact it is forbidden on weekdays is necessarily because

we say

perhaps

to the Great Court

in Jerusalem

he came

Elijah yesterday, and it is we who do not know.

And if so,

here—

on Shabbatot and Festivals—

also

it should be forbidden, since

we might say that Elijah came to the Great Court

yesterday.

And we explain:

It has already been assured to Israel that Elijah does not come on the eves of Shabbat or on the eves of Festivals, because of the exertion

required to put aside the preparations for Shabbat and go out to greet him. Since Elijah does not come on the eves of Shabbat and Festivals, the Messiah does not come on Shabbat and Festivals; therefore, it is permitted to drink wine on those days.

And

one might have thought that, since Elijah did not come

on the eves of Shabbat and Festivals because of the exertion involved in preparing the needs of Shabbat,

the Messiah likewise does not come

on the eves of Shabbat and Festivals; therefore, we ask:

If so,

on the eve of Shabbat

[or on the eve of a Festival],

it should be permitted

for one who took a nazirite vow to drink wine, since the Messiah certainly will not come that day. Why, then, does it teach that it is forbidden to drink wine “all” the weekdays?!

And we answer:

Elijah

is the one who

does not come

on the eve of Shabbat, but

the Messiah does come, since

once

the Messiah comes, everyone

[the nations of the world]

will be slaves to Israel

and they will prepare the needs of Shabbat for us, while we go out to greet our righteous Messiah.

We must still resolve the original question, for the following difficulty remains:

On the first day of the week

[on Sunday]

it should be permitted

to drink wine, as will be explained. Since the beraita states that it is forbidden to drink on “all” the weekdays,

we may infer from it that there are no תחומין

above ten handbreadths.

For if there are תחומין

above ten handbreadths,

on the first day of the week it should be permitted, since

surely

Elijah did not come on the preceding Shabbat

because of the prohibition against תחומין, and the Messiah does not come without Elijah having come to announce it to us on the eve of the day of his arrival.

And we reject this: This cannot be inferred from here, for perhaps

this tanna is uncertain whether there are תחומין

above ten handbreadths

or whether there are no תחומין

above ten handbreadths,

and

therefore he follows the prohibition of the nazirite

stringently,

and it is forbidden to drink even on the first day of the week, lest there are no תחומין above ten handbreadths and Elijah already came on Shabbat to announce it to us.

We now explain the principal matter of the beraita concerning one who says, “I am a nazirite.”

We inquire concerning it:

When

was the one who took the vow standing,

when he took the vow

[on which day was he standing when he took the nazirite vow]?

If we say that he was standing on a weekday

and said, “I am a nazirite on the day that the son of David comes,” there is a difficulty: He does not know when the Messiah will come to the place to which he will come speedily, and perhaps he has already come and his naziriteship has taken effect.

And once his naziriteship has taken effect—

which is for at least thirty days—

how can Shabbat come and annul it for him,

and why is he permitted to drink on the Shabbatot and Festivals following his vow? Perhaps he came yesterday, even though he did not come today?!

And we explain:

Rather,

indeed, it is so, and even on Shabbatot and Festivals it is forbidden because of this uncertainty. The statement that it is permitted on Shabbatot refers to a case where

he was standing on Shabbat and took the vow,

meaning: If he took the vow on Shabbat, he is permitted on that same Shabbat;

and

likewise, the statement that it is permitted on Festivals refers to a case where

he was standing on a Festival and took the vow, and that day

—the Shabbat or Festival on which he took the vow—

is when it is permitted for him; from then onward

—even on Shabbatot and Festivals—

it is forbidden for him,

for one must always remain uncertain that he came yesterday, and so it is forever.

We learned in the Mishna:

Once they did not enter the harbor

until it became dark, they said to Rabban Gamliel, “What are we to do—may we disembark?” He said to them, “You are permitted, for I had already watched, and we were within the תחום before it became dark.”

And we explain: How did Rabban Gamliel know how to estimate the distance between the place at sea where they were when Shabbat fell upon them and determine that they had been within the city’s תחום before it became dark? [The Rosh says that it appears somewhat that the Gemara’s version reads, “How did he know?”]

It was taught

in a beraita:

A tube

[a hollow reed, through which one cannot see far when it is long, whereas through a short one one can see farther, according to Rashi. See the Meiri, who appears to explain it differently]

was possessed by Rabban Gamliel

whose length he had adjusted to enable him to see a distance of two thousand cubits at sea.

And how did he adjust it?

He would look and observe through it for two thousand cubits on dry land,

meaning: He measured two thousand cubits on land and adjusted the length of the reed so that he could see through it to the end of the two thousand cubits he had measured, and no farther.

Corresponding to it,

he would measure

two thousand cubits at sea,

meaning: By means of that same tube, he could determine where two thousand cubits ended at sea, for the farthest point that could be seen through the tube was the point at which two thousand cubits from the observer’s position ended.

By means of that same tube, Rabban Gamliel knew that they had been standing within the city’s תחום when Shabbat began: Rabban Gamliel looked toward the city, and since it was possible to see the city when it had become dark, they must necessarily have been within the city’s תחום. [Explained according to the Rosh; Rashi’s wording requires study.]

One who wishes to know how

the measurement of

the depth of a valley

[a depression]

should bring a tube and look through it

on dry land, and measure how many cubits he can see through it. “Then he should go to the edge of the valley and look through it toward its depth, and move backward until he observes that at the point where the depth of the valley ends, the range of the tube’s vision also ends, so that if he moves back a little farther he will no longer see the bottom of the valley,”

and he will know how deep the valley is

“for the depth of the valley together with the distance he moved back from its edge equals the range of vision of the tube” [Rashi’s wording].

One who wishes to know how high a palm tree is,

and is afraid to climb it and measure it, can determine its height by measuring the length of the palm tree’s shadow and calculating the ratio between the height of a given object and that object’s shadow. This ratio is not constant: At times the shadow is longer than the height, and at times it is shorter; when the sun is high in the sky, the shadow of every object is short, and when the sun is near the horizon, the shadow of every object is long. Therefore, he must know the ratio between shadow and height at the same time that he measures the length of the palm tree’s shadow, and he should proceed as follows:

He measures his own height

[his height],

and

at the same time he measures

the shadow

of the palm tree

and the shadow of his height

his own,

and he will know how high the palm tree is.

For if, for example, the ratio between his height and the shadow of his height [at that time] is one to two, he will know that the height of the palm tree is half the length of the palm tree’s shadow.

One who wishes that a wild animal not take shelter in the shade of a grave

[A monument resembling a gravestone would be erected over the grave, like the earth that we raise and heap upon it. Wild animals customarily come there to shelter in the shade of the monument because of the heat of the sun, and he is concerned lest the animal smell the scent of the deceased and dig up the grave] should build the monument in such a way that it casts no shade at that time of day when the sun is hot and the shade is cool, namely, at the fourth hour of the day.

And how should he do this?

He inserts a reed at the fourth hour of the day

at the place where he intends to build the monument,

and he will see in which direction its shadow

of the reed

leans,

and in the direction in which the shadow leans he should build the monument so that it

slopes upward and downward, sloping upward and downward,

meaning: He should build the monument with a long, gentle slope, so that it will not cast a shadow. [Although when the sun moves, it will cast a shadow in another direction, since at this time—the most comfortable time for sheltering in the shade—the animal does not come to the grave, it will not later come to seek shelter in the monument’s shade. Furthermore, after the fourth hour even the shade is hot, and the animal has no interest in it, according to Rashi.]

Nehemiah son of Rav Hanilai was drawn after his learning and went outside the תחום

[He was absorbed in his study and was drawn along until he went outside the תחום.] Once he had gone outside his תחום, he was forbidden to go beyond four cubits for the entire Shabbat, as we learned in the Mishna at the beginning of this chapter: Even one who went out involuntarily has only four cubits.

Rav Hisda said to Rav Naḥman: Your student Nehemiah is suffering,

for he is forbidden to leave his place!

He said to him,

Rav Naḥman said to Rav Hisda:

Make a partition of people for him,

meaning: People who had established an eruv and were permitted to go outside the city’s תחום should go out and stand, half on one side and half on the other, from the place where Rav Nehemiah was located until the city’s תחום.

Since Rav Nehemiah was located within the partitions, his status was like that stated in our Mishna: In the case of one whom gentiles took out and placed in an animal pen or enclosure surrounded by a partition, according to Rabban Gamliel, we consider the entire area to be like four cubits, and he may walk throughout it, even though he had not been dwelling within those partitions when Shabbat became dark.

And since the enclosure of the partitions extended to the city’s תחום, Nehemiah would walk within them

and enter

the city’s תחום. From then on, his status was like that of the other residents of the city, who were permitted to walk throughout the city and its תחum. [See Tosafot for the reason and source of this law.]

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak was sitting behind Rava, and Rava was sitting before Rav Naḥman

[bar Yaakov, according to the Ritva] at the time when Rav Hisda came to Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak. When they saw this incident,

he said

[he asked]

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak to Rava:

What was Rav Hisda asking,

in that he did not himself instruct them to do so? His intent can be understood in two ways: A.

A.

If we say

[is it possible to say]

we are dealing with a case in which there were enough men,

[there were enough people who had established an eruv to form a partition from Rav Nehemiah’s location all the way to the actual תחום]

and Rav Hisda was asking

Rav Hisda was asking:

Is the halakha in accordance with Rabban Gamliel,

who holds that partitions of this kind, within which one had not been dwelling, have the status of four cubits for him?