Study Eruvin folio 45A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
והתנן רבי אליעזר אומר: שתים — יכנס, שלשה — לא יכנס. מאי לאו, רבי אליעזר לטעמיה דאמר והוא באמצען —
Didn’t we learn in a Mishnah that R' Eliezer says: If a person left his Shabbat limit by walking two cubits beyond it, he may reenter his original limit; but if he left his Shabbat limit by walking 3 cubits beyond it, he may not reenter. What, is it not that R' Eliezer follows his standard line of reasoning, in that he said with regard to the 4 cubits a person is allotted wherever he is, he is set in the middle of them, i.e., he may walk two cubits in each direction?
The Talmud explains that the 4 cubits that the rabbis gave a person are regarded here as being subsumed within his original limit, and it is for this reason that he said: He may reenter his original limit. Apparently he is of the opinion that the subsuming of one Shabbat limit within another is something significant.
אמר ליה רבה בר בר חנה לאביי: ומדרבי אליעזר קמותבת ליה למר? אמר ליה: אין, דשמיע לי מיניה דמר: עד כאן לא פליגי רבנן עליה דרבי אליעזר אלא לדבר הרשות, אבל לדבר מצוה מודו ליה.
Rabba bar bar Ḥana said to Abaye: Do you raise an objection against our Master, Rabba, from the statement of R' Eliezer? But isn’t the halakha in accordance with the opinion of R' Eliezer? Abaye said to him: Yes, as I heard from our Master himself that the Rabbis disagree with R' Eliezer only with regard to one who went beyond his limit for a voluntary matter, but with regard to one who went out for a mitzva matter, they agree with him about the subsuming of limits, i.e., that if one limit is subsumed in another, it is permitted to pass between them. This demonstrates that the halakha recognizes the principle of the subsuming of limits.