Eruvin 85 – To whom is the area?

When two courtyards make an eruv (common food) for themselves but forget to make a joint one, on Shabbat they can carry in each courtyard but not between the courtyards. If there is a mound of earth, which extends both courtyards, to whom does it belong? Obviously, it is the same case as a window between two courtyards. If the mound is high, it is obviously the same case as a wall between courtyards.

What if there is a mound which is high for the residents of one courtyard, so that they need to reach or throw things there, but low for the residents of the other, so that they lower things down to it? Here it is not obvious, and Shmuel says that it belongs to the residents of the upper courtyard, who lower things to it - since lowering is easier than reaching. His proof is from the balcony case before, where he assumes that the balcony is between two floors, giving the second-floor sufficient height – and there the mound belonged to the people of the upper floor.

However, Rav disagrees and says that lowering and reaching are equally inconvenient, and thus the mound belongs to both and is prohibited to both. He says that the circumstances of the balcony case are different: the second floor is level with the balcony, not higher than it, and thus the people don’t have to lower things from it onto the mound: the case is different and gives no support to Shmuel.

Art: The courtyard of the Burgerweeshuis, Amsterdam by Nicolaas Van Der Waay