Translation:Mishnah/Seder Moed/Tractate Eruvin/Chapter 1/10

Introduction

This mishnah continues the duscussion of the principle of lavud (that any gaps of less than 3 tefachim are not considered gaps), and then moves on to talk about a special exemption that was made for the army.

Hebrew Text

מקיפין בקנים, ובלבד שלא יהא בין קנה לחברו שלושה טפחים.

בשיירה דיברו, דברי רבי יהודה; וחכמים אומרים, לא דיברו בשיירה אלא בהווה.

כל מחיצה שאינה של שתי ושל ערב, אינה מחיצה, דברי רבי יוסי ברבי יהודה;

וחכמים אומרים, אחד משני דברים.

ארבעה דברים פטרו במחנה--מביאין עצים מכל מקום, ופטורין מרחיצת ידיים, ומדמאי, ומלערב.

English Translation

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They can surround with reeds, as long as there isn't [a gap of] three tefachim between one reed and another.

They spoke [specifically] about a caravan - so says rabbi Yehuda. The [other] rabbis say they were talking only about a caravan in the present case [as an example].

Any mehitza which is not [made of] vertical and horizontal [parts] is not a [valid] mehitza - so says rabbi Yose son of rabbi Yehuda.

The [other] rabbis say: one of [those] two things.

Four things [leniencies] are permitted in an army camp. They can take wood from any place, they are exempt from washing their hands, they [are permitted to eat] demai, and from making an eruv.

Explanation

The mishnah opens with another example of lavud (see the previous mishnah for the previous example). In this case the area is surrounded by a partition made up of vertical reeds, each of which is 3 tefachim or less from it's neighbor.

This sparks a rabbinic debate - can the physical borders of an eruv be made up of only horizontal or only vertical pieces, or must it be made up of both, creating a weave? Rabbi Yose says it must be a weave, the rest of the rabbis disagree.

Finally the mishnah moves on to leniencies which were created specifically for the army. The four leniencies are:

1. taking wood from any place
2. exempt from washing - Normally people are required to wash their hands both before and after a meal. Soldiers were exempt. The gemara explains that this exemption was only for the washing before the meal, and that the washing afterwards was still incumbent upon them.
3. demai - Demai is produce which is only questionably tithed. (The person isn't sure if it has been tithed or not). Usually a person is forbidden to eat it until they remove their own tithe in order to ensure it has been tithed. Soldiers were exempt from this requirement.
4. eruv - Soldiers were not required to made an eruv in their camps in order to carry. Rambam (mishnah torah, hilchot melachim) states that this is because the camp is already surrounded by a wall of ten tefachim.