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Eruvin 43

1) HALACHAH: ONE WHO WAS TAKEN OUT OF HIS "TECHUM" ON SHABBOS

OPINIONS: Rav and Shmuel argue whom the Halachah follows in a case where a person was forcibly taken out of his Techum Shabbos to an enclosed area. Rav says that the Halachah follows Raban Gamliel, and the person may walk throughout the entire enclosed area. Shmuel says that the Halachah does not follow Raban Gamliel in this case, and one may only walk within his four Amos. Shmuel agrees, though, that the Halachah follows Raban Gamliel with regard to traveling on a boat on Shabbos, that one may walk throughout the entire boat.

What is the Halachah?

(a) The RI cited by Tosfos (DH Halachah) and the RAMBAM rule in accordance with Rav, that one may walk throughout the area enclosed by the Mechitzos.

(b) The RASHBAM (also cited by Tosfos) and RABEINU CHANANEL rule like Shmuel that one may walk only four Amos, except in a boat where one may walk throughout the entire boat.

HALACHAH: Is it permitted to travel in a boat on Shabbos altogether?

(a) The RASHBAM (cited by Tosfos, DH Halachah) says that a person *may* ride in a boat on Shabbos, and he may even board the boat on Shabbos. Even though the Beraisa in Shabbos (19a) says that one may not embark on a boat within three days before Shabbos, the Rashbam explains that that Beraisa is according to Beis Shamai, but Beis Hillel permits boarding a boat before Shabbos and even on Shabbos.

Even though Beis Hillel maintains that normally, when doing something prior to Shabbos that will cause a Melachah to be done on Shabbos, one must allow enough time for the Melachah to be completed before Shabbos, that applies only in the other cases which look like Amira l'Nachri, it appears that one is telling a gentile to do Melachah for him on Shabbos. Here, in the case of boarding a boat, it does not look like Amira l'Nachri, because the gentile will be piloting the boat regardless of whether or not the Jew is on it. (MAHARSHA)

(b) The RITZBA disagrees with the Rashbam, based on the Gemara in Shabbos (19a) which says that one may not embark on a boat within three days before Shabbos. Even though that Halachah is referring to a large sea, even if one goes in a boat on a river it is still prohibited to board *on* Shabbos, because it is included in the Gezeirah against swimming (the Rabanan enacted that one may not swim in a body of water on Shabbos lest one inadvertently construct a flotation device); alternatively, it is prohibited to board the boat on Shabbos because the Rabanan feared that one might steer the boat, taking it more than four Amos in a Karmelis. He may, though, board a boat *before* Shabbos which will be traveling in a river and not a sea.

QUESTION: The Gemara says that someone taught seven Halachos in Sura at the beginning of Shabbos and taught them in Pumpadisa at the end of Shabbos. The Gemara first assumes that the person teaching those Halachos was Eliyahu ha'Navi (because only he is able to travel so fast in one day), and the Gemara concludes that it was Yosef the Shade (who does not observe Shabbos).

It seems from the Gemara that the Halachos would be accepted even if it was known for sure that Eliyahu had taught them. We see this also in Berachos (3a), where Rebbi Yosi learned a number of Halachos from Eliyahu. We find also in a number of places that certain Halachic questions remain in doubt "until Eliyahu comes to resolve them for us" (see, for example, Sanhedrin 44a and Menachos 32a).

How do we reconcile this with the teaching of RASHI (Shabbos 108a) who says that we cannot rely on Eliyahu for Halachic questions of Isur v'Heter, but only for questions of "fact or fiction?" In addition, the Gemara in Temurah (16a) teaches that we may not rely on a prophet even to remind us of a Halachah le'Moshe mi'Sinai that was forgotten!

ANSWERS:

(a) The MAHARATZ CHAYOS in Berachos (3a) explains that it depends whether Eliyahu ha'Navi is saying a Halachah as a prophecy, or Nevu'ah, from Hashem, or he is saying it as his own, personal opinion of Da'as Torah. In the latter case, we may accept it from him. When Rashi in Shabbos says that Eliyahu cannot teach us a Halachah, he means that Eliyahu cannot teach us Halachos as the Eliyahu *ha'Navi*, in his role as a prophet. But as a normal person, he is able to teach us Halachos.

(b) Similarly, when Eliyahu is not saying a prophecy but is saying a Halachah that was once taught, we certainly accept it. Only when he teaches something that was never taught before and he is teaching it is as a prophet, do we not accept it.

43b