Daf Ditty Eruvin 36: the Taxman
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Daf Ditty Eruvin 36: the Taxman Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table At which he's fed. Tax his tractor, Tax his mule, Teach him taxes Are the rule. Tax his work, Tax his pay, He works for peanuts ; Anyway! 1 Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants, Tax his coat. Tax his ties, Tax his shirt, Tax his work, Tax his dirt. Tax his tobacco, Tax his drink, Tax him if he Tries to think. Tax his cigars, Tax his beers, If he cries Tax his tears. Tax his car, Tax his gas, Find other ways To tax his ass. Tax all he has Then let him know That you won't be done Till he has no dough. 2 When he screams and hollers; Then tax him some more, Tax him till He's good and sore. Then tax his coffin, Tax his grave, Tax the sod in Which he's laid. Put these words Upon his tomb, 'Taxes drove me to my doom...' When he's gone, Do not relax, Its time to apply The inheritance tax. 3 MISHNA: A person may make a condition with regard to his eiruv of Shabbat borders. In other words, he need not decide in advance in which direction his eiruv should take effect. For example, he may deposit an eiruv on each of two opposite sides of his town, and say: If gentiles come from the east, my eiruv is in the west, so that I can escape in that direction; and if they come from the west, my eiruv is in the east. If they come from here and from there, i.e., from both directions, I will go wherever I wish, and my eiruv will retroactively take effect in that direction; and if they do not come at all, neither from here nor from there, I will be like the rest of the inhabitants of my town and give up both eiruvin that I deposited, leaving me with two thousand cubits in all directions from the town. RASHI 4 Similarly, one may say: If a Sage comes from the east and he is spending Shabbat beyond the boundaries of my town, my eiruv is in the east, so that I may go out to greet him there; and if he comes from the west, my eiruv is in the west. If one Sage comes from here, and another Sage comes from there, I will go wherever I wish; and if no Sage comes, neither from here nor from there, I will be like the rest of the inhabitants of my town. Rabbi Yehuda says: If one of the Sages coming from opposite directions was his teacher, he may go only to his teacher, as it is assumed that was his original intention. And if they were both his teachers, so that there is no reason to suppose that he preferred one over the other, he may go wherever he wishes. RASHI 5 Similarly, one may say: If a Sage comes from the east and he is spending Shabbat beyond the boundaries of my town, my eiruv is in the east, so that I may go out to greet him there; and if he comes from the west, my eiruv is in the west. If one Sage comes from here, and another Sage comes from there, I will go wherever I wish; and if no Sage comes, neither from here nor from there, I will be like the rest of the inhabitants of my town. Rabbi Yehuda says: If one of the Sages coming from opposite directions was his teacher, he may go only to his teacher, as it is assumed that was his original intention. And if they were both his teachers, so that there is no reason to suppose that he preferred one over the other, he may go wherever he wishes. GEMARA: The Gemara relates that when Rabbi Yitzḥak came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he taught all of the laws in the mishna in the opposite manner. That is to say, according to him, if the gentiles came from the east, his eiruv would be to the east, and, conversely, if the Sage came from the east, his eiruv would be to the west. This is difficult because if this is correct, there is a contradiction between the ruling concerning gentiles in the mishna and the ruling concerning gentiles in the baraita, and similarly there is a contradiction between the ruling concerning a Sage in the mishna and the ruling concerning a Sage in the baraita. 6 The Gemara answers: The apparent contradiction between the ruling concerning gentiles in the mishna and the ruling concerning gentiles in the baraita is not difficult: This case in the mishna (is referring to a tax collector [parhagabena], ( ּFrom the Iranian pāhragbān, meaning guard from whom one wishes to flee; whereas that case in the baraita is referring to the lord of the town, with whom he wishes to speak. Therefore, there are times that one wants to go out toward the gentile, while at other times one wants to flee from him. Similarly, the apparent contradiction between the ruling concerning a Sage in the mishna and the ruling concerning a Sage in the baraita is not difficult: This case in the mishna is referring to a scholar who sits and delivers public Torah lectures, and one wishes to come and learn Torah from him; whereas that case in the baraita is referring to one who teaches children how to recite the Shema, i.e., one who teaches young children how to pray, of whom he has no need. The baraita teaches that if a scholar came from one direction to deliver a public lecture and the schoolteacher came from the opposite direction, his eiruv is in the direction of the scholar. 7 We learned in the mishna that Rabbi Yehuda says: If one of the Sages was his teacher, he may go only to his teacher, as we can assume that this was his original intention. The Gemara asks: And what is the reason that the Rabbis do not accept this straightforward argument? The Gemara answers: The Rabbis maintain that sometimes one prefers to meet the Sage who is his colleague rather than the Sage who is his teacher, as sometimes one learns more from his peers than from his teachers. RASHI A number of commentaries state that this is a case where the one establishing the eiruv wishes to speak to the lord of the town with regard to the town’s needs. This justifies establishing an eiruv because it is for the purpose of a mitzva. Rav Ya’akov Emden explains that the lord of the town is its ruler and going out to greet him is part of the mitzva to greet a king. Summary A person may place two sets of eruv, one in each of two directions of his city, and he makes a condition that he will use the one which is desirable due to conditions that will develop as the Shabbos day occurs. In the diagram below, he can use either the eruv to the east or the one to the west, or neither, nor be as a member of his city. In the same diagram, he will want to use the eruv to the west to escape the enemy army which approaches from the east. 8 Conditional Eiruv Our Mishna says that one can place an eiruv with a condition, deciding on Shabbos how or if it should take effect. The Mishna lists the following examples: 1. If non-Jews are coming to the city from an unknown direction, and he wants to escape, he can place one eiruv in either direction, or stipulate: a. If they are in the west, my eiruv to the east should take effect. b. If they are in the east, my eiruv to the west should take effect. c. If they came from both sides, I can choose which eiruv should take effect. d. If they didn’t come at all, neither will take effect, and I will remain centered in my city. 2. If a sage is coming to the city from an unknown direction, and he wants to go to his lesson, he can place one eiruv in either direction, or stipulate: a. If he is in the west, my eiruv to the west should take effect. b. If he is in the east, my eiruv to the east should take effect. c. If two sages came, one in either direction, I can choose which eiruv should take effect. d. If none came, neither will take effect, and I will remain centered in my city. Rabbi Yehudah says that if one of the sages is his teacher, the eiruv in that direction takes effect, while if both are his teachers, he can choose which one he wants. 9 Coming or Going? When Rabbi Yitzchak came from Eretz Yisroel, his version of the Mishna reversed the relative directions in the cases of the non-Jews and sages. The Gemara explains that the cases of non-Jews and Sages are different ones. The non-Jews in our Mishna are who are collecting taxes, and therefore people want to avoid them, while those in Rabbi Yitzchak’s version are of the local government, who the residents want to greet. The case of the sages is when the sage in one direction is teaching Torah lessons, while the one in other direction is teaching children davening. People prefer to go to the sage who teaches Torah lessons, and therefore he will choose his eiruv in that direction.