Eiruvin 10:11 — Rabbinic leniencies in the Mikdash

The Lived Mishnah·A Zeman Nakat Project
Tisha B'Av Series
Mishnah 27 of 41
אִם אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלָיִם
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MoedSederסדרמוֹעֵד
EiruvinMesechtaמסכתעירובין
10Perekפרקי׳
11Mishnahמשנהי״א
נושא · Topicאֵין שְׁבוּת בַּמִּקְדָּשׁRabbinic leniencies in the Mikdash
This Mishnah is:a case · with a machlokeswhat does that mean?
Illustration
Mishnah עירובין י׳:י״א · Eiruvin 10:11
נֶגֶר הַנִּגְרָר, נוֹעֲלִים בּוֹ בַמִּקְדָּשׁ,
אֲבָל לֹא בַמְּדִינָה.
וְהַמֻּנָּח, כָּאן וָכָאן אָסוּר.
רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר,
הַמֻּנָּח מֻתָּר בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ,
וְהַנִּגְרָר בַּמְּדִינָה.
A dragging bolt — one may lock with it in the Mikdash,
but not in the medinah.
And a resting bolt — in both places — forbidden.
Rabbi Yehuda says:
a resting bolt is permitted in the Mikdash,
and a dragging bolt even in the medinah.
A reading aid, not an exact translation.

This English is a clause-by-clause rendering to help you follow the Hebrew. It is not word-for-word literal, and it is not a transcript of the recorded shiur — the audio carries explanation and context the translation deliberately leaves out.

case/objectrestrictive rulingpermissive rulingTanna
Structure
The Mishnah's Structure
עֵירוּבִין י:יא–י:יד
Four mishnayos answer one question — how close may you stand to a melacha in the Beis HaMikdash? This chart covers the whole run; the gold-marked row is this mishnah.
___ בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ, אֲבָל לֹא בַמְּדִינָה · וְאִם ___ — כָּאן וָכָאן אָסוּר
בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ — מֻתָּר
בַּמְּדִינָה — אָסוּר
וְאִם… — כָּאן וָכָאן אָסוּר
נֶגֶר הַנִּגְרָרthe dragged bolt
מֻתָּר
אָסוּר
וְהַמֻּנָּח→ כָּאן וָכָאן אָסוּר
צִיר הַתַּחְתּוֹן
מֻתָּר
אָסוּר
וְהָעֶלְיוֹן
רְטִיָּה
מֻתָּר
אָסוּר
אִם בַּתְּחִלָּה
נִימָא
מֻתָּר
אָסוּר
אִם בַּתְּחִלָּה
יַבֶּלֶת
מֻתָּר
אָסוּר
וְאִם בִּכְלִי
גֶמִי עַל אֶצְבָּעוֹ
מֻתָּר
אָסוּר
אִם לְהוֹצִיא דָם
רַבִּי יְהוּדָה
אַף הַמֻּנָּח
even the loose bolt — you may stand closer — his dispute is WHERE the line sits, one step closer to the melacha
Summary Chart
Rabbinic leniencies in the Mikdash
CaseRulingReason
May one lock with a dragging bolt? (נֶגֶר הַנִּגְרָר)Tanna Kamma: Mikdash: permitted · medinah: forbidden
Rabbi Yehuda: Permitted even in the medinah
May one lock with a resting bolt? (מֻנָּח)Tanna Kamma: Forbidden in both places
Rabbi Yehuda: Permitted in the Mikdash
Transcript
A machine transcript of the recorded shiur.

This is the shiur as spoken, transcribed automatically and left unedited — the wording is Ephraim's, and occasional transcription errors remain. It follows the audio word by word.

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Mishnah Insights
An amalgam of commentaries, including original insights.

These insights draw on the commentaries to this Mishnah and on the recorded shiur. Those commentaries often rest on earlier sources — the Gemara, the Yerushalmi, the Rishonim, and one another — without always saying so; where they do, we generally cite the one we read. Every commentary consulted is kept, verbatim, with this card.

The bolt you may lock only in the Mikdash
עוֹלָמוֹ שֶׁל הַמִּשְׁנָה
Three kinds of door bolt

The mishnah turns on a fine distinction in how a door was locked. A bolt left loose on the floor and slid into place is forbidden everywhere on Shabbos. A bolt tied to the door and hanging clear of the floor is permitted everywhere. The case here is the one in between — a bolt tied to the door, but on a rope long enough that it drags on the ground and must be lifted to use. That in-between bolt is where the Mikdash and the rest of the world part ways.

Only a fence, and the Mikdash sets it aside

Locking with the dragging bolt is not real building — the bolt is already fastened to the door; it only looks like building because it trails on the floor (Bartenura). So the ban on it is a mere shvus, a rabbinic fence for the honor of Shabbos. And this opens a run of mishnayos on a single principle: ein shvus b’Mikdash — those rabbinic fences fall away inside the Beis HaMikdash. R’ Yehuda goes further still, permitting the resting bolt in the Mikdash and the dragging one even outside it.

Series Insights
Series context

Where this sits

Here the series enters the world of ein shvus b’Mikdash — the one place where the Chachamim’s own added fences on Shabbos give way, so the avodah is never blocked and the kohanim, trusted to be careful, may do what the day requires. The door bolt is the first small proof of a large idea: inside the Beis HaMikdash, the ordinary weekday hedges around Shabbos simply do not run.