An eruv techumin (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: עירוב תחומין, "mixed borders") for traveling enables Jews to travel on

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

or a

Jewish holiday Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainstre ...

, without violating the prohibition of

techum shabbat In Jewish halacha, the techum shabbat (Hebrew: תחום שבת, "Shabbat limit"), or simply techum, is a limited physical area in which a Jew is permitted to walk on foot on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. In general, this area is calculated by measu ...

. They prepare food prior to Shabbat or the holiday on which they plan to travel farther than is normally allowed on such days. The only allowed method of transportation is walking. Normally, a person may walk anywhere in their city or town on such days, but only within that area and up to 2000

cubit The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term ''cubit'' is found in the Bible regarding No ...

s past the city limits (the city limits are defined to extend so long as there are houses within 70 cubits of the each other; see

for details). If they need to travel farther than that, they can leave some food in a certain location prior to that holiday or Sabbath. This will temporarily establish their home as at the location of the food, allowing to travel 2000 cubits from the food. The food must be enough for two Sabbath meals. They would also declare there, "Let my cessation of labor (Heb. ''shǝvitathi'') be in this place." For the ''eruv techumin'' to be effective, the food must be prepared by day (before the Sabbath) and be still in existence when Sabbath commences. Even so, this was a special allowance, and was only permitted in order to perform a

mitzvah In its primary meaning, the Hebrew word (; he, מִצְוָה, ''mīṣvā'' , plural ''mīṣvōt'' ; "commandment") refers to a commandment commanded by God to be performed as a religious duty. Jewish law () in large part consists of discus ...

or avoid a danger. Since the Sabbath day limit of 2,000 cubits was a rabbinic ordinance, the Rabbis had the power to exercise leniency in what concerns its proper observance.''

Mishne Torah The ''Mishneh Torah'' ( he, מִשְׁנֵה תּוֹרָה, , repetition of the Torah), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' ( he, ספר יד החזקה, , book of the strong hand, label=none), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (''h ...

'' (''Hil. Shabbat'' 27:1) It is rare for contemporary Jews living in cities to need the ''eruv techumin'' to avoid violating the techum shabbat, as the techum shabbat automatically extends to cover all of an urban area.

References

External links

www.techumshabbos.com
contains additional illustration and rules. Laws of Shabbat Eruvin Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law {{Judaism-stub

See also

References

External links