596. Picking Up and Putting Down

82:3 Transferring an object from place to place involves uprooting it from its resting place (akira) and placing it to rest elsewhere (hanacha). Picking up and putting down are separately prohibited, even without performing the other action. Therefore, a Jew may not place an object in a non-Jew's hand so that the non-Jew will transport it for him from a private domain to a public domain or a carmelis. This is prohibited even though the Jew only does the picking up and the non-Jew does the actual carrying. Similarly, if a non-Jew brings an object, it shouldn't be taken from his hand by a Jew because the Jew does the placing down. One must be careful regarding a baby that a non-Jewish woman brings to shul on Shabbos for a bris, that she take the baby from the house herself and places him down upon arrival at the shul. After this, a Jewish woman may pick up the baby. (A baby should not be brought to shul for a bris if there is no eiruv, since he can be circumcised at home. If the baby is at home and the knife is in shul, the baby may be brought to shul in this manner but it would be preferable to have the knife brought to the home because the baby would also need to be returned on Shabbos – Mishnah Brurah 331:20.) 82:4 If a courtyard has been breached and there remains of the wall on one side four handbreadths wide by ten handbreadths tall, or if there remains on each side one handbreadth wide by ten handbreadths high, then the breach is considered like a doorway so long as it is no wider than ten cubits. In such a case, no further action is needed to enable one to carry in the courtyard on Shabbos. However, if the breach is wider than ten cubits, or if there isn't remaining four handbreadths of the wall on one side or one handbreadth on each side, and certainly if it's a complete breach that leaves no wall at all on one side, then even if the breach is only three handbreadths wide, one may not carry in the courtyard on Shabbos until it is repaired. The way to repair it is by giving the breach the form of a doorway. If there are two or more homeowners in this courtyard, they also need to combine with an eiruv as will be discussed in chapter 94.