Shabbat: C (part 1) - Carrying

Richard B. Aiken

CANDLESTICKS

You may not remove candle holders from a table on Shabbat, but you may ask a non-Jew to remove them for you if you need the space.

CARRYING (HOTZA'A) AND DOMAINS

Transferring Object from Domain to Domain

On Shabbat (or Yom Kippur), you may not transfer an object between and among domains unless there is a city eruv (which allows carrying within the borders of the eruv).

NOTE: Domains may be of three types:

Private Domain (reshut ha'yachid),

Public Domain (reshut ha'rabim), and

Carmelit.

Moving Items in Legal Public Area (Reshut HaRabim)

In a halachically public area (reshut ha'rabim) with no eruv, on Shabbat you may move a stationary object up to 4 amot (6'9 1/2", or about 2 meters) from the place where you find it. If you are already transporting the object when you realize it, do whichever one of the following applies:

SITUATION: You are walking on Shabbat in a public domain (reshut ha'rabim) that does not have an eruv and find something in your pocket.

WHAT TO DO: If you were walking and are still walking, go back to the most recent private domain and leave the item there. (If you cannot reasonably get back to where that was, continue to your destination and drop the item inside the first private domain you reach.)

If you have already stopped walking, drop the item where you are.

If you had stopped walking and then resumed walking, drop the item where you are.

Carrying in Mouth on Shabbat

You may not carry items in your mouth outside a private domain or an eruv on Shabbat.

EXAMPLES:

Outside a private domain or an eruv, you may not carry food in your mouth that you were eating when you left your house.

You may not chew gum in a public area without an eruv.

Carrying Children on Shabbat outside Eruv

You may not carry children on Shabbat in a public domain without an eruv.

SITUATION: An eruv breaks or is down on Shabbat.

WHAT TO DO: Do not tell someone who is carrying a child, pushing a stroller, or in a similar situation that the eruv is down.

NOTE: If a person is not carrying a child, pushing a stroller, etc., tell him or her that the eruv is down.

Using Cane, Crutches, Wheelchair outside Eruv

You may use a cane, crutches, or a wheelchair if any of these are needed on Shabbat, even without an eruv.

Carrying Ticket within Eruv

If an eruv includes your house and a sports field, you may carry your ticket to a sporting event on Shabbat, but it is best if you leave the ticket at the entrance with a ticket-taker before Shabbat starts. Such activity is not in the spirit of Shabbat but is not forbidden.

Wearing Watch with No Eruv

You may not wear a non-decorative watch on Shabbat where there is no eruv or if you have the custom of not relying on eruvs. If you would wear your watch as a piece of decorative jewelry even if it did not work, you may wear it on Shabbat even without an eruv.

Wearing Collar Stays with No Eruv

You may wear collar stays on Shabbat even where there is no eruv.

If You Do Not Use the Eruv

If you do not normally carry on Shabbat even in an area with an eruv, you may not ask another Jew to carry something for you. But if the other Jew does carry an item, you may use it.

ERUV CHATZEIROT FOR BUILDINGS

Introduction

On Shabbat, you may not carry items in a building (such as a condominium) owned by more than one Jew (even if the other owners are not religious), from a condo into the hallway or from the hallway into a condo unless:

There is an eruv around the building, or

You have made an eruv chatzeirot with all the other owners.

NOTE: If none of the other owners are Jewish, you do not need to make an eruv.

NOTE: If you do not normally rely on municipal eruvs, you should not carry outside your apartment (such as in the building's halls--even if your building is within a municipal eruv), unless the building has an eruv chatzeirot.

Hotel/Apartment Building with Central Kitchen

If you are in a hotel or apartment building that has a central kitchen from which most of the residents usually eat, you do not need to make an eruv chatzeirot.

Eruv Chatzeirot When Manager Has Right To Enter Your Apartment

You do not need an eruv chatzeirot if you are in an apartment building even without a central kitchen but where:

The building owner has property in each apartment, and

The building owner or manager has the ability and the right to enter your apartment and the other apartments.

OUTDOOR ERUV

Introduction

An eruv forms a boundary around an area of land in order to create a private domain (reshut ha'yachid). Carrying items within that domain is permitted on Shabbat. The eruv boundary may include a variety of structures such as:

Real physical structures—whether natural (such as tree trunks, bushes) or man-made (buildings, fences, cars);

Natural topographic features (such as slopes); and/or

Presumptive doorways (often made of poles and wires or strong string).

Solid or Halachically Solid

Two structures (regardless of how thick or wide they are) within 10.5 inches of each other are considered to be halachically solid and constitute a single structure; this is called lavud.

NOTE: A halachically solid wall may have gaps of more than 3 tefachim (10.5 in.) high or wide (i.e., in either dimension) as long as the other dimension is less than 3 tefachim wide.

EXAMPLES

A halachically solid wall can be made of a:

Wide mesh of ropes or strings; the cross strings are very far apart, as long as the vertical strings are within 10.5 inches of each other.

Picket fence; each vertical slat must be within 10.5 inches of the adjacent slat OR each horizontal piece that connects the vertical slats must be within 10.5 inches of the adjacent horizontal piece.

Chain-link fence.

Height

All vertical eruv components must be at least 40 inches high. There is no maximum height for the eruv if it is a halachic doorway (tzurat ha'petach--two uprights and a horizontal bar above and connecting the two).

Width

A solid component (for example, a board, wall, house, etc.) must be at least 12 inches from side to side.

Non-solid components (for example, a series of narrow bushes, a series of trees with trunks less than 12 inches across, various types of fences, etc.) must be within 10.5 inches of each other and of the ground, both horizontally and vertically, for the entire distance between adjacent trees/bushes. They must be at least 40 inches high or wide.

Connectors

Vertical components, such as poles, that are connected above or below in the following ways are also halachic walls, regardless of how far apart they are:

Connected above, such as with a board or string that rests across the tops of vertical poles, and which are at least 40 inches above the ground at all points along its course, or

Connected below within 10.5 inches of the ground, such as bushes or small trees with branches that come within 10.5 inches of the ground at all points (even at the attachment point to the trunk). Components must reach up to at least 40 inches above the ground.

Eruv: Leniencies

Almost all eruvs in cities use leniencies.

Measurements for Walls as Eruv Border

Walls that begin within 10 1/2” (27 cm) of the ground and extend upward to at least 40” (1 m) above the ground are kosher as eruv walls.

Amount of Gap in Eruv Border

Eruv walls must total more than 50% of the eruv border on each side, so that most of the expanse of the eruv is enclosed, either by an actual wall or by the form of a doorway (tzurat ha'petach), with no gate or gap over 10 amot (about 16' 8”, or 5 m) wide.

NOTE: In order to count as part of a border for a private domain, any doorway, gateway, archway, etc., must be intended to be a doorway, gateway, archway, etc.--and not there merely for decoration or function (as in supporting something above).

Measurements for Buildings as Eruv Border

Buildings in a row, more than 10 amot (about 17.5 feet or about 5.3 m) wide and less than 10 amot (about 17.5 feet or about 5.3 m) from the adjacent buildings, constitute one eruv border for a domain and no eruv is needed on that side.

Bushes as Eruv Border

Bushes may be a border if they are:

So dense that a cat can't walk through them, and

More than 40” (10 tefachim) high.

Car as Eruv Border

You may use a car as a part of an eruv, as long as:

The bottom of the car is within 10.5 inches of the ground, and

One side of the car is in line with other parts of the eruv, such as with an actual wall, lechi + mashkof, or steep slope.

Incline of Lechi

A lechi for an eruv must be less than 45 degrees from vertical.

Thickness of Lechi

A lechi for an eruv may be of any thickness and any width; even a string or wire may be used, as long as it is sufficiently tensioned so as not to wave in the wind.

Wire Slope

Slope of the wire at the top (the pseudo-lintel) must be less than 45 degrees from horizontal.

Slopes as Eruv Border

A slope of about 25 degrees from vertical that is steeper than 5 inches vertical for 12 inches horizontal (a 5” rise over a 12” run) constitutes an eruv border; it must be at least 40" high.

Tree Trunk as Eruv Border

You may use the trunk of a tree as part of an eruv, but consult a rabbi about the spacing and curvature of the roots.

Slope of Body of Water for Eruv

A body of water may be an eruv border if the land:

Slopes down into the water 40 inches or more, and

Is more than 25 degrees from horizontal.

Porches and Awnings as Eruv

In general, porches and awnings on the outside of a house will not qualify as being part of the house for the halachot of carrying on Shabbat if there is no eruv. The porch or awning must be in the structure of a shape of a doorway (tzurat ha'petach): vertical poles and cross beams must be on TOP of the vertical poles in order to be considered a halachically enclosed area.

NOTE: Since these are not intended to be a doorway, no mezuza is required on them.

Shabbat: C (part 1) - Carrying

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