If one locked his eruv food in a closet and then lost the key, the eruv is still valid. But why? It is not accessible! – It is a closet made of bricks, and he can break it, and in this way get to his food. But then he is demolishing, and that is prohibited on Shabbat!? – The closet is not cemented, it is just bricks put together.
If his eruv rolled beyond the “techum”, that is, the two thousand amot (about 2000 steps) that he is allowed to walk on Shabbat, then it is not valid. The same is true if it was burned or buried under a heap of rubble. Still, if this happened on the Shabbat day, it is not a problem, since the eruv already took effect on Friday night.
What if we don't know when the eruv food rolled out? Rabbi Meir says that since this is in doubt, then he is caught: he does not have his previous residence area (techum) and has not acquired a new one, so he has to stay put. However, multiple opinions said that a doubtful eruv is valid, and this became the law.
Art: Jean-Edouard Vuillard - Linen Closet
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