Study Eruvin folio 66A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
יפה עשיתם ששכרתם. תהו בה נהרדעי: ומי אמר רבי יוחנן הכי? והאמר רבי יוחנן: שוכר כמערב דמי. מאי לאו: מה מערב מבעוד יום, אף שוכר מבעוד יום!
You acted well when you rented. The rabbis of Neharde’a wondered at this teaching: Did R' Yoḥanan actually say this? Didn’t R' Yoḥanan say just the opposite: Renting from a non-Jew is like establishing an eiruv? What, is he not to be understood as imposing a stringency: Just as one who establishes an eiruv may do so only while it is still day, so too, one who rents a non-Jew’s property must do so while it is still day?
לא, מה מערב ואפילו בפחות משוה פרוטה, אף שוכר בפחות משוה פרוטה. ומה מערב אפילו שכירו ולקיטו, אף שוכר אפילו שכירו ולקיטו.
The Talmud rejects this argument: No, his statement was intended as a leniency: Just as one who establishes an eiruv may do so even with less than the value of a peruta, so too, one who rents a non-Jew’s property may rent it for less than the value of a peruta. And just as the one who establishes an eiruv need not be the owner himself, but even his hired laborer or harvester may do so, so too, one who rents a non-Jew’s property need not rent from the landlord himself, but may rent even from his hired laborer or harvester who are acting on his behalf.
ומה מערב חמשה ששרוין בחצר אחת — אחד מערב על ידי כולן, שוכר נמי, חמשה ששרוין בחצר אחת — אחד שוכר על ידי כולן.
And similarly, just as with regard to one who establishes an eiruv, the halakha is that if 5 people live in the same courtyard, one of them may establish an eiruv with the residents of a different courtyard on behalf of them all, so too, with regard to one who rents a non-Jew’s property; if 5 people live in the same courtyard together with a non-Jew, one of them may rent the non-Jew’s property on behalf of them all.