Eruvin 1:1 - 1:2

מבוי – which is not wide sixteen cubits, even though it is open from its two points into the public domain; alternatively, it is sixteen cubits wide but it is not open, but one head is open to the public domain and the other head is closed, but from the Torah, it is permitted to carry in it without any repair, but the Rabbis made a decree against it, lest they come to carry in full public domain and they permitted with an establishment of a stake fastened in the ground (by the side of a wall, serving as a mark or as a fictitious partition for the purpose of enabling those who live in an ally to move objects on the Sabbath) or a beam/post so that it will have recognition/a sign. But if he placed the beam above twenty cubits high, he should lower it, meaning to say, he should lower the beam so that it will be lower than twenty cubits high, for higher than twenty cubits, it is not discernible to the eye/the eye is attracted, and if [his] beam has a ceiling (see Talmud Eruvin 3a – for different opinions of the meaning of his word), which means drawings/embroidery and is open even higher than twenty cubits, he does not have to lower it, for through these drawings/embroidery, it is discernible to the eye/the eye is attracted.

רבי יהודה אומר א"צ – for the reason of the beam is not because of recognition but because of a partition since we said, the mouth of the ceiling goes down and closes up, and since his is the case, what difference does it make within twenty [cubits] and/or higher than twenty [cubits], but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

והרחב מעשר אמות ימעט – for more than ten cubits, it is not called an opening, but rather a breach, and we require an opening. Therefore, he should reduce the width of the entrance and reduce it to ten [cubits] or less.

ואם יש לו צורת פתח – in every place where the Sages stated “a form of a doorway” (in width), even if his a reed from here and a reed from there ten handbreadths high or more, and a reed on top of them, even though it doesn’t touch them and even though it is higher than them more than three handbreadths. And all of the cubits that are taught in this Mishnah and in all of [Tractates] Eruvin, and Sukkah and Kilayim, a cubit is six handbreadths and each handbreadth is four fingers with the thumb, but sometimes one needs to measure a “sorrowful” (pressed together) handbreadth (i.e., four fingers closely joined), meaning to say, that one should not make a space in the fingers with the thumb between one to the other, but rather, they would be pressed against each other and touching each other, and sometimes, one must make a space between each digit so that they do not touch each other and this is called the liberal (or smiling) handbreadth. How is this the case? At the time when the measurement Is with the “sorrowful” (pressed together) handbreadth, it is stringent such as an alley entrance which is higher than twenty cubits, he should lower it, and a Sukkah which higher than twenty cubits is invalid, we measure with a “sorrowful” handbreadth, but at the time when the measurement is with a liberal (or “smiling”) handbreadth which is stringent, such as an alleyway entrance, its height cannot be less than ten handbreadths; a Sukkah which is higher than ten handbreadths, we measure with the liberal handbreadth.

הכשר מבוי – its preparation and designation of the alley to carry within it through a combination of alleys.

ב"ש אומרים לחי וקורה – both of them (i.e., a stake and a beam) are necessary and that they hold from the Torah that we require four complete partitions and it was brought as a traditional interpretation of a written law [dating back to Moses as delivered from Sinai) and the particular application is a square-block of a stake and a crossbeam.

ובה"א או לחי או קור – for from the Torah three [complete] partitions are required and further nothing else and it was brought as a traditional interpretation of a written law [dating back to Moses as delivered from Sinai] either a stake of some small size or a beam to be recognized as a partition. And the alley that we are speaking of here is a closed alley from three directions and the fourth direction is open to the public domain and its length is greater than its width, for it its length was like its width, it would be like a courtyard whose opening was breached to the public domain and one would need a board/bar of four handbreadths and a bit more (see Talmud Eruvin 5a) or two boards/bars of a bit of size and similarly, a courtyard which was breached into the public domain and its length was greater than its width, it is judged to be an alley which is permitted with a stake or a board. But an alley that was made valid with a stake is different than an alley made valid with a beam, for an alley which was made valid with a stake, it is as if it has four partitions and a person who throws [something] from the public domain into it is liable, but an alley made valid with a beam, even though it is permissible to carry within it through a combination, it is not like a completely private domain and a person who throws [something] from the public domain into it is exempt, for we hold that a beam is because of recognition and a stake because of a partition.

רבי אליעזר אומר לחיים – he holds like the School of Shammai that requires a stake from one side and the other, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer.

אמר תלמיד אחד – He is Rabbi Meir.

שהוא פחות מארבע אמות – the width of its opening.

אמר רבי עקיבא על זה ועל זה נחלקו – The first Tanna/teacher also this is how it should be read: It does distinguish between wide and narrow and the Talmud explains that there is a difference between them: An alley that has less than four handbreadths in the width of its opening – one of them holds that it requires neither a stake nor a beam and the other one holds a stake or a beam but it is not made clear from their words which of them holds that it is required and which of them holds that it is not required.