If one shares a courtyard with an idolater or with someone who does not accept the laws of the eruv, then the laws of the eruv do not apply, and one cannot carry in his courtyard. Why is that? Eruv (common food) makes everybody into one family, so that it is not many families living in this courtyard, but just one. If so, one can carry in this courtyard, because nobody is going to confuse this situation with carrying in a public street. However, one who does not agree with the rules of the eruv cannot join it.
What is to be done? The residents of the courtyard can rent the rights of carrying from the idolater by giving him money or food. They need his agreement for that, but even that of his wife or his servant will also suffice.
Rabbi Eliezer ben Yakov adds the the idolater only restricts when there are at least two Jews in the same courtyard, and Rabbi Meir says that even for one Jewish resident it is a problem. What is their disagreement? Rabbi Eliezer is of the opinion that it is unusual for one Jew to live with an idolater, because he would be afraid to be killed – and the Sages never make their decrees for unusual situations. If so, what does Rabbi Meir reply? – He says that occasionally a Jew may be forced to live alone with an idolater, and thus the eruv limitation still applies.
Art: A courtyard in a town with a mussel seller and other figures... by Jan Jozef, the Younger Horemans (1714-1790)
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