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

הר
186 : Hạkirah, the Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought
he first defines ‏"י . The standard texts of Rambam were
emended by editors who could not fathom why Rambam would first
define ‏"י and then go on to tell us that there are four
domains of which ‏"י are two. 11
Clearly Rambam’s intent is to convey that ‏"ר are
objective entities that exist in nature and within civilization, which are
not a function of Hilchos Shabbos, and he lists the areas that make up
these reshuyos first. The Torah prohibited carrying from רה ‏"י to
―between two entities that are physical and social entities ‏"ר
whose definitions are unrelated to Hilchos Shabbos. Then Rambam
explains that there are רשויות לשבת ' , i.e., the parameters for these
four reshuyos were defined by the Rabbis specifically for Shabbos. It
was incumbent upon the Rabbis, for the functioning of Hilchos
Shabbos, to categorize every unique physical area under one of these
four reshuyos. Thus, later we are told of other רה ‏"י that are defined as
such specifically in Hilchos Shabbos (such as the קרפף described in
chapter 16) that were not listed in the original presentation, for in
רה categorizing all entities of space, even areas that are not the pure
of nature and society are nevertheless classified as ‏"י ‏.רה As we noted
above, Rambam first lists the fundamental natural ‏"י ‏:רה a ‏,תל mound,
and a ‏,חריץ ditch. Next he gives a basic rule that applies to areas that
have been created and defined by human construction. "
‏"י
רה and ‏"י
ד
רה and רה ‏"ר
רה and רה ‏"ר
רה and רה ‏"ר
רה
וכן מקום שהוא
מוקף ארבע מחיצות גובהן עשרה וביניהן ארבעה על ארבעה או יתר על כן אפילו
יש בו כמה מילין אם הוקף לדירה
כגון מדינה המוקפת חומה שדלתותיה ננעלות בלילה,‏ ומבואות שיש
להן שלשה כתלים ולחי ברוח רביעית,‏ וכן חצר ודיר סהר שהוקפו לדירה — כולן
רה"י גמורה הן
" . Of this principle he gives several
examples― "
" .
Whereas according to Rashi (Eruvin 2a), the ל חי of a מבוי is
רה from the מבו י only a Rabbinic requirement, to distinguish the
that it abuts and to make us cognizant that this is not part of the
transforms it into a מבוי of the לחי according to Rambam, the ‏,רה"ר
and such a structure with a predominantly open fourth side is a ‏"י
defined by civilization. Rashi and the other Rishonim 12 believe ‏"י
that three מחיצות by definition constitute a
, but
‏"ר
רה ‏"י
דאורייתא
רה
רה
11 Even Frankel’s edition refuses to emend the text although they are well
aware that the authoritative texts have this significant difference.
12 See Maggid Mishnah to Hilchos Shabbos 17:9, Tur 362.