Siman - Shabbos Daf 6

• The four domains

A Baraisa lists the four domains with regards to Shabbos and examples of each:

a. Reshus hayachid – a private domain.

- A ditch that is ten tefachim deep and four tefachim wide

- A partition that is ten tefachim high and four tefachim wide

b. Reshus harabim – a public domain     

- A highway, a large public plaza, streets that are open at both ends

Transferring from a reshus harabim to a reshus hayachid or vice versa is medoraysa prohibited.

c. Karmelis – it is neither a reshus harabim because it does not support large-scale traffic, nor a reshus hayachid because it is not enclosed.       

- A sea, a storefront bench area (איסטוונית)

Transferring from a reshus harabim or a reshus hayachid to a karmelis, or vice versa, is Rabbinically prohibited.

d. Mekom petur – an exempt place. A place in a reshus harabim that is less than four by four tefachim wide but higher than three tefachim.

Transferring from a reshus harabim or reshus hayachid to a mekom petur, or vice versa, is permitted.

• A threshold (איסקופא)

The same Baraisa includes a machlokes about a threshold (איסקופה) which is considered a mekom petur:

- A person standing on a threshold can take an object from the ba’al habayis standing in the reshus hayachid or give him one. He may also take on object from a poor person standing in reshus harabim or give him one. The one thing he cannot do is to transfer the object from the baal habayis to the poor person or vice versa. But If he did, all three are exempt from bringing a chatos.

- Acheirim (R’ Meir) says the threshold can function as two domains depending on the circumstances:

- When the door to the entrance is open, the threshold is considered a reshus hayachid.

- When the door to the entrance is closed, the threshold is considered a reshus harabim.

• R' Yehuda - Two walls create a reshus hayachid

When the Baraisa above defined the reshus hayachid and then stated, “This is a reshus hayachid”, it implied it rejected specifically the following opinion of R’ Yehuda that two walls are enough to render the area between them a reshus hayachid.

According to R’ Yehuda, if someone had two houses on opposite sides of the reshus harabim, he can set either two sideposts (לחי) or two crossbeams (קורה) at each end of the open street, (which is required Rabbinically so the street does not look like a reshus harabim) and then pick things up or place things down in the street in the area between the two houses.