| Case | Ruling | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | — |
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.
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.
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.