When tax collecting was farmed out, and the collectors were, in fact, extortionists, it was common to avoid confrontations with them. If one fears a visit from a tax collector on Shabbat, he may increase the two thousand step limit that he is allowed to walk, to four thousand, in the following way. He can place two portions of eruv food in two places, one two thousand steps to the east and another – to the west. He can then make a stipulation, saying that if the tax collector comes tomorrow from the east, his west eruv takes effect, and if he comes from the west, then his east eruv is activated. If the collectors come from both directions, he will decide where to go, and his direction will determine the eruv, and if they don't come at all, neither of his eruvs are active, and he stays where he resides.
This is an example of the future affecting the present (bereirah). If the tax collector comes from the east in the future, then the west eruv is effective as of now. When tomorrow he actually comes, his future coming reaches into the past and changes the legal reality of the designation.
The same law applies when a man wants to hear a Sage coming with a lecture to a nearby town, and it is not known which town this will be. He makes two eruvs and makes a similar stipulation: if the Sage comes from the east, his east eruv is the one taking effect, etc. If two Sages come, he will decide which one he will go to. Rabbi Yehudah says that if one of the Sages is his teacher, he must go to him. Why? He might want to listen to another one!? – Some say that Rabbi Yehudah does not agree to the retroactive designation. In all other cases, Rabbi Yehudah explains that the Sage has already come – except that the man does not know to where. Others say that Rabbi Yehudah agrees to the retroactive designation but does not permit one's future decision to influence past reality.
Art: Paul Vos - The Tax Collector
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