A soldier and his weapon TB Eruvin 45

The first Mishna of chapter 4 of our massekhet discusses cases when you were forcibly extracted from your tekhum. The Mishnah on yesterday’s daf TB Eruvin 44 discusses cases when you left your tekhum with permission. Rashi cites several examples, giving testimony of the new moon to the High Court in Jerusalem, joining the army to fight an enemy, to save a life like a person drowning, or midwife going to deliver a baby. “MISHNA: With regard to one who was permitted to leave his Shabbat limit, i.e., he went out to testify that he had seen the new moon or for some life-saving purpose, and they said to him along the way: The action has already been performed, and there is no need for you to travel for that purpose, he has two thousand cubits in each direction from the location where he was standing when this was told to him. If he was within his original limit, it is considered as if he had not left his limit, and he may return to his original location. The Sages formulated a principle: All who go out to battle and save lives may return to their original locations on Shabbat.” (Sefaria.org translation)

 Today’s daf TB Eruvin 45 resolves the seemingly contradiction between the first clause of the Mishnah where a person who leaves with permission is only allowed 2000 amot when he completes the task or the task is completed before he arrives and the third clause where those who go out to battle may return to their original location on Shabbat even if it’s more than 2000 amot. “Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: We must not infer from the mishna that they may go home even if they went out more than two thousand cubits from their limit, but rather that they may return with their weapons to their original locations, provided that they are within two thousand cubits. As it was taught in the Tosefta: At first those returning from a rescue mission would place their weapons in the first house that they encountered upon their return, i.e., the house nearest the wall, to avoid carrying on Shabbat any more than necessary.” (Sefaria.org translation) The soldiers may carry their weapons throughout the entire new tekhum.

 The reason is simple. Perhaps the enemy will regroup and counterattack and the Jewish defenders will be defenseless without their weapons. And that’s exactly what happened. “Once, their enemies noticed that they were no longer carrying their weapons, and they chased after them; and the defenders entered the house to take up their weapons and fight, and their enemies entered after them, causing great confusion. In the chaos, the defenders began to push one another, and they killed more of each other than their enemies killed of them. At that time the Sages instituted that they should return to their locations, i.e., their destinations, with their weapons.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Today is not unusual to see Israeli soldiers carry their weapons on Shabbat because the threat of a terrorist attack is constant. The Mishnah and our Gemara reaffirms saving a life overrides the other laws of Shabbat.