[Avodah] Eruv Tavshilin - who makes it?

[Zev Sero]

On 09/10/17 12:44, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:

> Note: I admit there's a certain weakness in everything that I've written 
> above. Namely, the idea that one can rely on the Eruv Tavshilin that was 
> made by the rav of the town. Let's set aside the fact that this is not 
> the best way of doing the eruv, and that various conditions are imposed 
> on one who wants to rely on it. Let's focus on the fact that it is valid 
> *at* *all*. How does the eruv made by someone outside of my home help 
> me? What sort of *reminder* does his eruv provide? I have never 
> understood this, nor have I heard any explanation of it, only assertions 
> that it does work. Any help in this area would be appreciated.

IIRC the gemara offers two explanations for ET.  Either it was made 
lichvod Shabbos or lichvod Yomtov.

The first explanation is that cooking on Yomtov for Shabbos was always 
done by pretending to be cooking for a late Friday meal, but Chazal felt 
about the Shabbos after Yomtov the way many nowadays do about the 
Shabbos after Thanksgiving: that it's wrong to rely entirely on 
leftovers, and one must prepare at least one thing just for Shabbos. 
According to this explanation, the fact that one must ask the rabbi (or 
the neighbor, or whomever) before relying on their eruv accomplishes the 
same thing. One has provided for Shabbos, not by cooking but by 
arranging an invitation to eat out.

The second explanation is that originally there was no ha`arama; it was 
permitted to openly cook on Yomtov for Shabbos.  Chazal legislated that 
one must save Yomtov's face by pretending to be cooking for that day. 
According to this explanation it's very simple; the important thing is 
not the eruv itself, but the need for the ha`arama.   The eruv's 
function is merely to give the ha`arama some surface plausibility.  So 
it makes no difference whose eruv one uses; the fact that one is 
pretending not to be cooking for Shabbos *is* the kevod Yomtov that 
Chazal required.   The enabling notion that on Shabbos one will be 
eating the rabbi's eruv is only barely less plausible than the one that 
one will be subsisting on ones own eruv.


-- 
Zev Sero                May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
zev at sero.name           be a brilliant year for us all