They relied upon experts and so should we TB Eruvin 59

The Mishnah on yesterday’s daf TB Eruvin 58b teaches us an important lesson that applies to this upcoming election. “MISHNA: One may measure the Shabbat limit only with an expert surveyor. If it is discovered that the surveyor extended the limit in one place and reduced it in another place, so that the line marking the Shabbat limit is not straight, one accepts the measurement of the place where he extended the limit and straightens the limit accordingly. Similarly, if the surveyor extended the limit for one and reduced it for another, one accepts the extended measurement.

“And furthermore, even a gentile slave and even a gentile maidservant, whose testimonies are generally considered unreliable, are trustworthy to say: The Shabbat limit extended until here; as the Sages did not state the matter, the laws of Shabbat limits, to be stringent, but rather to be lenient. The prohibition to walk more than two thousand cubits is rabbinic in origin and is therefore interpreted leniently.” (Sefaria.org translation)

 This Mishna emphasizes only an expert is permitted to make all the Shabbat tekhum measurements. Rambam defines an expert thusly: “מומחה הוא האדם החכם המהיר במלאכתו באיזו מלאכה שתהיה או בחכמה מן החכמות ורוצה בכאן שיהיה חכם בתשבורת מהיר במדידת הקרקעות- an expert is one is wise and skilled in his profession or extremely knowledgeable and one is desired here is one who is wise and precise with fractions when it comes to land measurement.” Obviously one would have to be very knowledgeable about the lay of the land and the laws how to span a valley and how to pierce a mountain as described in yesterday’s daf.

 Similarly we need a president who respects experts in their various fields of expertise. We need a president who listens to scientists and doctors with their recommendations how we can control and ultimately defeat Covid 19. We should vote out of office a man who disregards all safety precautions, downplays the virus, politicizes CDC recommendations, and says that the virus will magically disappear over time.

 We need a president who listens to scientists who warn about climate change and is willing to do something about it. We know that carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere. We know that humans are burning fossil fuels, releasing huge amounts of carbon pollution and trapping more and more heat in the atmosphere. There is only one conclusion: humans are the primary reason why we see climate changing today. Summers are warmer than ever before and winters are milder. The devastating wildfires on the West coast are due to climate change and not bad forest management. We need a president who has a vision to reduce our greenhouse gases and out of office a man who denies the science and promotes fossil fuels like coal as our solution.

Today’s daf TB Eruvin 59 seemingly challenges my conclusion of a couple days ago that we are lenient when deciding arguments revolving around the Shabbat tekhum. The Mishnah teaches if two surveyors come up with two different calculations of the Shabbat tekhum or one surveyor comes up with two different calculations and the calculations are not significantly different, we rely upon the larger calculation. This lenient conclusion is challenged in the Gemara. “We learned in the mishna: As the Sages did not state the matter, the laws of Shabbat limits, to be stringent, but rather to be lenient. The Gemara asks: Wasn’t the opposite taught in a baraita: The Sages did not state the matter, the laws of Shabbat limits, to be lenient but rather to be stringent?” (Sefaria.org translation) Knowingly and willingly violating the Shabbat is a capital offense according to the Torah. Consequently, it could make sense to be strict when measuring the Shabbat limit lest somebody walk farther and transgress the Sabbath.

The answer is simple. “Ravina said that there is no contradiction between these two statements: The very institution of Shabbat limits was enacted not to be more lenient than Torah law, but rather to be stringent beyond Torah law. Nonetheless, since Shabbat limits are rabbinic law, the Sages permitted certain leniencies with regard to how the Shabbat limits are measured.” The Torah mandates no limit to how far a person may walk on Shabbat. The 2000 amot limit is a stringency imposed by the rabbis. But since Shabbat limits are rabbinic in nature, the sages permitted leniency’s with regard how they are measured.