King Solomon's Takanah: Rambam's Eruv - Hakirah.org

King Solomon’s Takanah: Rambam’s Eruv : 201
clear that communities are expected to make eruvin. Life in the
ancient world would have been very difficult if carrying was
prohibited locally on Shabbos, and the intent of the takanah was not
to prohibit it. Moreover, the very process of making the eruv in which
would
draw the people into שותפות (partnership)―a relationship that in fact
is a goal of the mitzvos of the Torah and the intent of Shlomo’s
takanah. 46 Yet, Rambam states explicitly a more direct purpose for this
takanah. It was designed to make people aware of the prohibition of
carrying from the private domain to the public, and vice versa.
Reconciling these two seemingly disparate concepts behind this
takanah, gives us insight into the purpose of וצאה . Shlomo’s ultimate
goal required that his people understand the prohibition of carrying
שכולנו
ה
מעורבין ואוכל אחד לכולנו ואין כל אחד חולק רשות מחבירו
איש ואשה אל יעשו עוד מלאכה לתרומת הקדש ויכלא העם ― Shabbos on
מהביא,‏ הא למדת שההבאה מלאכה קורא אותה ‏(הלכות שבת יב:ח
( . On
Shabbos we refrain from ‏,מלאכה from the process of building
civilization. Shlomo saw that men did not understand that coupled
with the prohibition of work on Shabbos is a Torah imperative to
engage in מלאכה for six days of the week. 47 The meaning of this
imperative is that man should take from nature, from the ‏"ר , and
turn what he takes into a ‏"י ‏.רה Man was meant to go into the desert,
the forest, and the field, and take the bounty that God put into nature
and use it to build the public domain. 48 To do this, man does הוצאה as
he takes his tools to these areas and then הכנסה as he brings in what
he finds there. Interestingly, only here, in describing eruv (Hilchos
Eruvin 1:4), does Rambam speak of the two processes הוצאה and
is what הכנסה 49 for here he must explain that this process of ‏,הכנסה
רה
46 Yerushalayim did not have an eruv in Talmudic times, based on Eruvin
101a. We must assume that this was because of their inability to make
one. According to our understanding of Rambam, explained above, the
that could not be closed made it halachically impossible. But see פרצות
Iggeros Moshe OC 5:28.
‏.ששת ימים תעבוד ועשית כ ל מלאכתך 47
48 See Yirmiyahu 17:21–22 where the prophet makes הוצאה the central
theme in שבת ‏.שמירת (Thanks to Dovid Guttmann for this reference.)
. ' הל'‏ שבת יב:‏ ח בשינוי נוסחאות
עי 49