Yerushalmi Eruvin 4:5 ירושלמי עירובין ד׳:ה׳

MISHNAH: If somebody slept on the road and did not realize that night fell he has 2’000 cubits in every direction, the words of Rebbi Joḥanan ben Nuri, but the Sages say, he only has four cubits¹³Everybody agrees that if he slept in a town during nightfall, his Sabbath domain is that of the town. But if he is outside of town, R. Joḥanan ben Nuri holds that he automatically has a Sabbath domain of 2’000 cubits in every direction but the Sages hold that a Sabbath domain can be acquired only by conscious selection. If he slept at sundown, he made no selection and has no domain. In the interpretation of the Yerushalmi, R. Jehudah agrees with R. Joḥanan ben Nuri but specifies that he may choose the center of his Sabbath domain at will and, therefore, walk 4’000 cubits in one direction (which must be chosen at the start and cannot be changed.). Rebbi Eleazar says, he is in the center; Rebbi Jehudah says, in any direction which he chooses. Rebbi Jehudah agrees that if he selected one he cannot retract it.

HALAKHAH: Paragraph. “If somebody slept on the road and did not realize until after night fell,” etc. Rebbi Zeˋira in the name of Rebbi Ḥasdai. The reason of Rebbi Joḥanan ben Nuri: Since if he had been awake he would have acquired a Sabbath domain, when he was sleeping he did not acquire a Sabbath domain; he only has 2’000 cubits in every direction. Rebbi Jehudah says, even awake and he did not acquire a Sabbath domain; he only has 2’000 cubits in every direction⁷¹As explained in Mishnah 9, a Sabbath domain is a rectangular domain (for a single person a square) oriented exactly NS-EW. In a village or town, the geography of the place automatically defines the domain as explained in Mishnah 5:1. For a single person the domain can be determined only by a conscious choice. In the absence of such a choice the Sabbath region is a circle, for the Sages of diameter 8 cubits, for RR. Joḥanan ben Nuri and Jehudah (possibly also R. Eliezer) 2’000 cubits. For RR. Joḥanan ben Nuri and Eliezer the place of the person at sundown automatically is the center of the circle, for R. Jehudah the person may choose any point accessible to him when he awakes as center of his circle.. Rebbi Jehudah’s statement follows Rebbi Joḥanan ben Nuri’s (and exceeds Rebbi Joḥanan ben Nuri’s)⁷²The text in parentheses was written by the scribe of L but (wrongly) deleted by the corrector who it seems understood רובא as name of a person whom he could not identify. Note by S. Liebermann.. For Rebbi Joḥanan ben Nuri said, since if he had been awake he would have acquired a Sabbath domain, if he was awake and did not acquire a Sabbath domain; he only has 2’000 cubits in every direction⁷³The text is elliptic; missing is a statement that for R. Jehudah the person may choose to have his Sabbath circle so that he is at the border, not at the center, and therefore has 4’000 cubits in one direction, 0 cubits in the directions perpendicular and opposite to the chosen one..

Rebbi Ḥuna said, Rav Naḥman bar Jacob asked: if a proselyte immersed himself after sunrise. “Since if he had been awake he would have acquired a Sabbath domain,” what does Rebbi Joḥanan ben Nuri say in this case? Let us hear from the following.⁷⁴Obviously there is a lacuna here, it is not said how to decide the question. A proselyte becomes Jewish by immersion in a miqweh for the purpose of conversion (for a male, after circumcision), attested to by a competent court. The latter condition excludes conversion on a Sabbath, a fact which Rav Naḥman bar Jacob, chief judge of the Exilarch’s court in Babylonia, must have known. The problem here is not about a proselyte but a general question about the Sabbath domain for a person who on Friday evening was unable or unqualified to choose a Sabbath domain; for example an insane person who became lucid overnight. Since R. Joḥanan ben Nuri restricts his argument to persons who on Friday evening were able to exercise judgment, it is unknown what his opinion would have been in this case. For Rebbi Isaac bar Naḥman⁷⁵Read: R. Naḥman bar Isaac; Chapter 1, Note 62. said in the name of Rebbi Joshua ben Levi, practice follows Rebbi Joḥanan ben Nuri. If he selected while it still was daytime, he may change his mind while it still is daytime; after nightfall he may change his mind after nightfall⁷⁶This question is possible only for R. Jehudah who permits the person to choose his Sabbath area on the Sabbath as long as it is a circle of radius 2’000 and contains the point at which he stands. For all others the area is uniquely determined at nightfall.. If he selected while it still was daytime, and the day became holy for him⁷⁷Cf. similar questions Šabbat 3, Note 55, Chapter 4, Note 70.? Let us hear from the following: “he may not enter, the words of Rebbi Meïr¹¹He may not go more than 2’000 cubits from the place where he started the Sabbath. Since he did not intend to be like a town dweller for this Sabbath, for him the entire built-up area is not counted as 4 cubits.; Rebbi Jehudah says, he may enter⁷⁸Since he went to sleep outside of town and R. Jehudah allows him to change his mind in the morning and to enter town, how can the Mishnah state that R. Jehudah agrees that if he chose once he cannot change his mind?” Not on this was it said, but on the start of the Chapter; on “if somebody was taken out by Gentiles or an evil spirit,” it was said . Rebbi Abun said, “Rebbi Jehudah agrees that if he selected one he cannot retract it.⁷⁹The question raised in the preceding Note is answered; R. Jehudah agrees that the person forcibly removed from his Sabbath domain has only one possibility of choice once he regains his freedom of choice. (R. Ḥananel ad 48a, Sefer Haˋittim p. 68 Note 152.)”