I’m a conservative jew who has been invited to a relitively orthodox household for Saturday Lunch. I got a tip from a friend that it would be considered an insult/inappropriate to present a gift (teehee, go pun yourself) on shabas? Something to do with the ‘work’ of carrying the parcel from my abode to theirs? If this is the case I suppose I’ll arrange to have something (tasty and kosher, any suggestions?) to delivered before friday night. So yeah, no gifts on shabbat?
That’s correct - not so much because of the carrying (a gift would be forbidden on Shabbat even within an Eruv, a structure in which carrying is allowed), but because it’s a monetary transaction. Those are forbidden on Shabbat, too.
I’m always fascinated by this stuff. Regale me with the rationale, here.
In a nutshell: the prohibition of carrying on the Sabbath is only in a public domain, which has a halachic (Jewish religious law) definition of having something like 600,000 people passing through on a regular basis (I’m a bit vague on the precise details myself). Most public spaces today do not fit that definition, but rather, are in a category called (in Hebrew) “Carmelit” in which carrying is only prohibited by Rabbinic edict, not by Torah law. The Rabbis allowed for an exception in a Carmelit that if it would be circumscribed by wall-like structures, that would allow it the status of a private domain, in which carrying is entirely permitted. This circumscribing structure is referred to as an “Eruv.”
Mind you, there is no possibility of an Eruv or anything else allowing carrying on the Sabbath in a genuine halachic public domain, as described earlier. But most areas, public though they may seem to us, do not fit the legal technical definition of a public domain.
I’m pretty sure it needs to be at least 16 amot (about 8 meters) wide and have at least 600,000 people (according to Rashi) passing through it every day.
Wasn’t there some disagreement a few years ago about the eruv in Boro Park that involved this issue?
So should I be ok if the gift arrives on friday hours before the holiday begins?
And unroofed and open on both ends.
Zev Steinhardt
Yes, that would be best.
Zev Steinhardt
Toda Raba
What would one do then, if a guest brought a gift in ignorance? I assume you’d have to refuse it?
Or at least put it aside until after the Sabbath and only take possession of it (and subsequently make use of it) then.
Would this extend to food and drink? Food-related items like bowls or cutlery?