584. Erecting a Tent

In an introductory note to this chapter, the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch writes that most Jews are already familiar with the prohibited labors of Shabbos and that he is only addressing common situations with which people may not be familiar. Clearly, the laws of Shabbos constitute an area requiring much greater study than this email alone will allow. 80:77 For our purposes, a tent is any roof that forms a canopy. A tent whose minimum dimensions are one square handbreadth may not be made on Shabbos; this is true even if it’s only temporary and even if it’s only meant to protect one from sun or rain. One may therefore not spread a sheet on wooden hoops over a baby's cradle on Shabbos or yom tov unless it was already spread out one handbreadth on Friday or before yom tov. If it was already spread out one handbreadth, then extending it is only considered adding to an already-existing temporary tent, which is permitted. Similarly, if the hoops are closer together than three handbreadths, it is considered a tent already because the law received from Sinai is that gaps of less than three handbreadths are legally considered connected. Therefore, one may spread a sheet over such hoops on Shabbos. (If one of the hoops is a handbreadth wide, this is also sufficient to permit spreading the sheet – OC 315:2.) 80:78 If the lid of a chest isn't connected to it by hinges, one may not remove it on Shabbos as doing so constitutes dismantling a tent. Similarly, one may not put the lid on it because that constitutes assembling a tent. (This only applies to things with very wide openings - Mishnah Brurah 315:48.) When placing a board over a barrel for use as a table top, the open end of the barrel must be on the bottom because placing the board on the open end would be like making a canopy. (To be considered a canopy, a cover must have at least a handbreadth of empty space beneath it. Therefore, if a barrel is full, there is no problem in covering the open end with a board – OC 315:13.)