Garments Worn Outside on Shabbos
Question: In an area where it is forbidden to carry on Shabbos, is one permitted to wear a jacket over one’s shoulders with the sleeves hanging free?
Discussion: There are two reasons that it may be forbidden to wear a jacket in this manner: 1) Wearing a jacket over the shoulders may not be considered “wearing” at all, but rather “carrying,” since the normal way to wear a jacket is to insert one’s arms into the sleeves; and 2) The jacket may slip off one’s shoulders, and one may inadvertently pick it up and carry it a distance of four amos, thus possibly violating a Torah prohibition.
There are conflicting opinions among the poskim regarding these concerns: Many poskim dismiss both concerns and maintain that one is permitted to wear a jacket over one’s shoulders while walking outside.244 Rav M. Feinstein is quoted,245 however, as strictly forbidding it. There are poskim who permit wearing a jacket over the shoulders but nevertheless advise that it not be worn in this way in a public domain (reshus ha-rabim min ha-Torah).246
Question: In an area where it is forbidden to carry on Shabbos, is it permitted to wear a garment that has extra (reserve) buttons sewn onto it?
Discussion: While this question is widely debated by the poskim and some rule stringently,247 most authorities allow one to wear garments with extra (reserve) buttons sewn onto them.248 There are several reasons given for this ruling: 1) The buttons have no importance in their own right and are therefore secondary to the garment; 2) Garments are normally manufactured with extra buttons sewn onto them; and 3) Since the buttons are sewn onto the garment, they are considered an extension of the garment.249
Question: In an area where it is forbidden to carry on Shabbos, is it permitted to wear a garment with a price tag or a cleaning tag attached to it?
Discussion: If the owner of the garment is not planning to remove the tag from the garment, it is definitely permitted to wear the garment on Shabbos.250 This is because the tag is of no consequence to the wearer and thus becomes subordinate to the garment.
If the owner of the garment plans to remove the tag, however, some poskim rule that the garment may not be worn in an area where carrying is prohibited.251 In their view, the tag cannot be considered to be of no consequence since it is of sufficient consequence that one cares to remove it. Other poskim, however, permit the garment to be worn with the tag on it. In their view, only expensive objects possess intrinsic importance that causes them not to become secondary to the garment.252 Ideally, cleaning and price tags should be removed before Shabbos.253
Question: In an area where it is forbidden to carry on Shabbos, is it permitted to wear a garment whose belt is looped through the back or side loops but is not fastened in the front?
Discussion: If the belt is sewn onto the garment, it is permitted.254 Even if the belt is not sewn onto the garment, most poskim are of the opinion that it is permitted to be worn while unfastened and hanging loose, as long as there is no concern that the belt may slip out of the loops and fall to the ground.255
Question: In an area where it is forbidden to carry on Shabbos, is it permitted to walk outside wearing boots with plastic bags inside them?
Discussion: Parents often slide plastic bags over their children’s feet or shoes to enable them to pull their boots on more easily. These plastic bags are not considered garments, and it is therefore forbidden to wear them if one will be walking in an area where one may not carry.256
244. Orchos Rabbeinu 1:137 quoting Chazon Ish, who permitted doing so and even did so himself; Tzitz Eliezer 13:33; Az Nidberu 14:14.
245. The Shabbos Home, pg. 107. His reason, however, is not specified.
246. Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 18:4 and note 24. See also Be’er Moshe 3:63, Halichos Shlomo 1:2, Orchos Halachah, note 77 and Ashrei ha-Ish, Shabbos 14:24.
247. See Be’er Moshe 3:67, Ohr le-Tziyon 2:23-9, Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 18:30 and Megilas Sefer 41:11. See also Chut Shani, Shabbos, vol. 4, 88:17 which recommends being stringent if possible. According to this opinion, reserve buttons are not meant to be part of the apparel but only attached by the manufacturer in case one of the buttons used on the garment needs to be replaced.
248. Rav M. Feinstein (quoted in Rivevos Efrayim 4:87; 6:200, and Kol ha-Torah, vol. 54, pg. 18); Shulchan Shlomo 301:20; Ashrei ha-Ish, Shabbos 14:12; Az Nidberu 2:40.
249. The various reasons for leniency are presented in Machazeh Eliyahu 43.
250. Shevet ha-Levi 2:61.
251. See Az Nidberu 2:45.
252. Rav M. Feinstein (quoted in Rivevos Efrayim 6:200); Minchas Yitzchak 3:36; Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 18:45; Teshuvos v’Hanhagos 1:240; Rav C. Kanievsky (Shabbos l’Yisrael, pg. 478); Megilas Sefer 41:12.
253. Rav M. Feinstein (quoted in Rivevos Efrayim 6:200). [All authorities agree that labels that are sewn into a garment and are meant to remain there permanently, such as labels bearing a company name, laundry instruction labels and sha’atnez-free tags, are considered extensions of the garment and do not need to be removed.]
254. Mishnah Berurah 301:135.
255. Chelkas Yaakov 2:130; Shulchan Shlomo 303:10; Rav C.P. Scheinberg (quoted in The Shabbos Home, pg. 118); Ashrei ha-Ish, Shabbos, 14:13; Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 18:29, notes 124 and 129. For a dissenting, more stringent opinion, see Be’er Moshe 3:62.
256. Rav M. Feinstein (quoted in The Shabbos Home, pg. 121).