There is a question that I am having a hard time figuring out, I hope you could help me.
We have learnt two Halachas:
1 - That when you calculate your Techum for counting of the 2,000 Amos, you first Square/ rectangle the city first, in the N,S,W,E direction, and after you have your box, you have 2,000 Amos outside the box.
2 - That if the distance between two cities is 141+ Amos or less, they are considered one city, and you can walk freely into both cities ( plus you still get 2,000 Amos outside)
The question is , Can you apply both of these Halachos at the same time, or only seperately ?
Let me explain:
I live in Ramat Beit Shemesh A.
Now if you don't hold of the city Eruv around all of Beit Shemesh, I want to know if I can walk to the end of RBS B without an Eruv Techumim.
I believe that the distance between the two cities is more than 141+ Amos if you calculate it from the actual houses. But if you square off the cities first, Then I believe the difference between the imaginary box around RBS A and RBS B is less than 141+ Amos. And if that is the case, I would be able to walk from my house till the end of Beit Shemesh proper with out an Eruv techumim, since from RBS B it is all connected.
Thanks,
Shmuel
I never measured it, but local Rabanim say that only the beginning of RBS B is in the Techum. [Apparently they do not consider RBS A and RBS B to be a single city because they are too far apart. Therefore, the Techum from RBS A ends 2000 Amos from RBS A, regardless of whether or not those 2000 Amos end in another city. MK]
There is someone who makes multiple Eruvei Techumim every Shabbos and puts them in the part of RBS B which is inside the Techum. One who has in mind to be Zocheh in that Eruv before Shabbos can walk all the way to Nachalah u'Menuchah (since the person is allowed to walk throughout the entire RBS B, and RBS B is connected to Nachalah u'Menuchah with a Mehadrin Eruv, making them a single city.) For more information contact Rav Hager, 999-5843, in RBS B.
Kol Tuv
Elimelech Kornfeld
Rav, Kehillas HaGra RBS Aleph
Regarding your question, the answer is that if another city begins within 141 Amos of the square around one's city, the two cities are considered one.
Mordecai Kornfeld
Kollel Iyun Hadaf
Such a person would, of course, be restricted how much he can walk out of RBS A to the opposite direction (the amount restricted would presumably depend on the size of RBS A and on the distance between RBS A and RBS B - let us know of any information on this).
Kol Tuv
That is correct. He would lose an amount equal to the distance between RBS A and B on the other side of RBS A.
To measure the distance one would have to square off RBS A (if it is not a square city) at the point of the of the farthest building that lies within 70 Amos of RBS A.
M. Kornfeld