685. Transporting On the Shoulders

Shabbos 12:11

One who transfers part of an object from one of type of domain (either public or private) to the other is not liable. One is only liable for transferring an entire object between domains. For example, if a vessel is full of items - even mustard seeds, which are tiny - and a person transferred the greater part of the vessel from one type domain to the other (so he invariably transferred many discrete mustard seeds), he is not liable unless he transfers the entire vessel. This is true in all comparable situations because the vessel combines all the things inside of it into a single unit.

Shabbos 12:12

One who transfers an object in the manner in which the object is normally transported is liable, whether he transferred it in his right hand, his left hand, in his embrace, or money tied up in a cloth. Similarly, one is liable if he transported something by carrying it on his shoulder. This is so even though the object ends up being carried higher than ten handbreadths (about 30”) in the public domain. This still renders one liable because it was the way in which the sons of Kehos would carry the vessels of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) as per Numbers 7:9, “They shall carry them on their shoulders.” As previously discussed, the parameters of the Shabbos labors are derived from the labors of the Mishkan.