
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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