Dear Rav Kornfeld:
In the mishna on daf 40b there is a distinction between damage during motion of a depositor's keg by a custodian, whether the motion was for the custodian's benefit, or for the keg's benefit.
I have a serious inquiry which I cannot help but ask in a perhaps sarcastic fasion.
If the custodian knows that at some point in the near future he will move the keg for his own benefit (that he may want the space) which is a risk, and a risk for which he would be held liable...
If the custodian, anticipating that future moving, moves it ahead of time so that it won't need to be moved then for the custodian's benefit.... moves it....
Is that particular movement to preempt the riskier motion arguably it is for the keg's benefit.
Is it valid to move the keg now for its benefit so that in the future it won't be necessary to move it for the custodian's benefit?
To make this contrived scenario more realistic I would point out that a worker or child of the custodian could be the one who would move it later for their benefit, thus for the custodian's liability.
Or in a similar fashion, it could be that the keg is stored right in a doorway which right now the custodian does not need to enter, but is likely to need to enter in the future.
If he moves it now when he does not yet have the need to enter, because he anticipates he might have to move it in the near future, and will then have to move it in an urgent fashion, is this more clearly a case of moving it for the keg's benefit in order to prevent having to move it in anticipated move for the custodian's benefit.
Robert
There is a difference between a move which the custodian makes for the benefit of the barrel, and a move that he makes in order that he should not have to pay for the barrel in case it breaks. The latter is not called for the benefit of the barrel, but for the benefit of the custodian.
There is no benefit for the barrel when he moves it in order that it should not have to be moved later for his own benefit. If a person would move the barrel now and not have any benefit from doing so, and the sole reason he would do so is in order that the barrel would not have to be moved hurriedly later on, this is called for the benefit of the barrel, even if he would be the one moving the barrel in a hurried fashion for his own reasons.
All the best,
Yaakov Montrose