Eruvin 38 – Eruv for two days

If two days that need an eruv follow each other in succession, then one has to worry about the eruv for each day. Rabbi Eliezer says that when a festival (yom tov) is followed by Shabbat, these are separate entities, and he can simply prepare two different eruvs, stating which way he wants to go based on each eruv.

However, the Sages say that two days of rest constitute one long entity, and one therefore cannot separate them. Here is the procedure that they recommend he should follow. At the beginning of the first day, which is a festival, he brings his eruv to the new place where he wants his new dwelling to be established. Then he waits until dark, acquires his new residence there, and now takes his food with him – out of fear that it may be consumed by wild animals. On the next day, he brings his eruv back, waits until night, and eats it (since on Shabbat he cannot carry it anyway). Because the food was present at the beginning of Shabbat, he has acquired his new residence there, and can walk two thousands steps in any direction from this place. He has thus acquired the possibility to walk the extra two thousand steps that he wanted, but was also able to benefit from his eruv food by eating it.

Art: by Jan van Kessel - Four Still Lives of Food and Fruit