Search results for: ""Erev""

Introduction to Eruvs
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.
NoteA 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. 
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.
Incline of Lechi
A lechi for an eruv must be less than 45 degrees from vertical.
Shabbat: Bioluminescence
You may use bioluminescent light on Shabbat and you may carry the light within an eruv or a building (if it is permitted to carry there), but you may not activate it on Shabbat.
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.
Shabbat: Bringing Mail inside House
Do not bring mail inside the house on Shabbat, unless it was delivered:
  • From within techum Shabbat, AND
  • Within an eruv, AND
  • By a non-Jew, AND
  • Already open.
Reason Most mail is muktza since it cannot be opened or used without doing melacha.
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.
Shabbat: Bringing Newspaper inside House
You may bring a newspaper, magazine, or other reading material inside the house on Shabbat and read it if there is an eruv, unless it was:
  • Brought from outside the techum Shabbat, OR
  • Printed on Shabbat, OR
  • Delivered by a Jew.
If any of these conditions apply, you may not use it in any way on Shabbat, even if all of the other conditions would have permitted its use. You may use it once Shabbat is over.
Note As a policy, you may tell delivery services that you do not need to have the item delivered until after dark.
Reason If the item is delivered on Shabbat, it is not being done at your request and, if it is reading material, you may read the material as long as the other conditions permit it--see above.
Note If you do not know where the reading material came from, you may not use it Shabbat.
Note Although taking possession of the newspaper, magazine, or other reading material is “acquisition” (kinyan), you may do so since you will use it on Shabbat.
Extra Shirt Buttons on Shabbat
You may wear extra shirt buttons, sewn on to be used in the future if buttons fall off the shirt, outside an eruv on Shabbat, but not if you are already missing a button from your shirt and you plan to use one of those buttons in the future.
 
How To Open Door with Key in Shabbat Belt
Situation You need to open a door with a key on a Shabbat belt in a place with no eruv.
Status You may not disconnect the key from the belt, stick the key in the door, and open the door in a way that the key enters a private domain.
What to Do You must either:
  • Turn the key while the key is still on the Shabbat belt, OR
  • Remove the key from the Shabbat belt (or take off the belt), open the lock, and then replace the key on the Shabbat belt before you open the door.
Shabbat: Dumping the Garbage
You may dump garbage from inside a house on Shabbat if the garbage smells bad (as long as the outside garbage can is within an eruv or an enclosed property that is adjacent to the house).
 
Key Ring with House and Car Keys
If you keep your house key on a key ring with your car keys and you are within a private domain or an eruv, you may either:
  • Remove the house key (even on Shabbat), or
  • Carry the entire set of keys on the ring with you.
Reason The key ring and all of the attached keys are not muktza as long as they are on the key ring with the house key.
 
Mezuza: Where People Live
Only buildings in which people live need a mezuza, so you do not need to put them on offices, synagogues, or stores (unless people also live there). No mezuza is needed on an eruv.
Shabbat: Retrieving Ball
You may retrieve a ball or other item that has fallen into a bush on Shabbat, but only if you can get it without moving the bush and only if the ball is still within an eruv or the private domain from which it fell.