819. Making a Canopy

Rabbi Jack Abramowitz, MS Ed., is Torah Content Editor at the Orthodox Union. He is the author of nine books, including The Tzniyus Book, The Taryag Companion, The God Book and Ask Rabbi Jack. His two-volume The Complete Targum Onkelos is available from Kodesh Press as well as on Amazon.

Shabbos 22:28

We are not permitted to hang a canopy over a bed on Shabbos because doing so creates a temporary tent. It is permitted to put down a bed, chair or table even though a “tent” (i.e., a covered hollow space) is created beneath them. This is permitted because it is not the way one sets up either a permanent or a temporary tent.

Shabbos 22:29

If a tent has a slanted roof that is not a handbreadth wide (about 3”), nor is the area within three handbreadths of the roof a handbreadth wide, it is considered a temporary tent and one would not be liable for erecting it for the first time on Shabbos. If a cloth is hanging folded over a beam on Friday and cords are hanging from it, it may be unfolded and re-folded on Shabbos. The same is true of a curtain.

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