We will be starting the Halachos off hadlakas neiros next week, and it will take approximately 35-40 shiurim. Sponsorship is available for the whole series or individual shiurim. All money benefits Kollel Zichron Amram.
We are continuing in siman 4, discussing creating the ability to carry inside of a boat on Shabbos. We learned that if everyone eats together, it is not necessary to create a separate eruv chatzeiros, as the fact that they are eating together serves as the eruv chatzeiros. However, if people eat separately in their rooms, there would be a need for an eruv chatzeiros.
We apply these same parameters to a hotel as well. If everyone eats in one room, there is no need for any other type of eruv chatzeiros. However, if people have private dining rooms, even though all of the food comes from the same source, they would need to create an eruv chatzeiros. Snacks eaten outside of the dining room would not disqualify the eruv, only meals which are eaten separately.
The third issue which the Chayei Adam discusses in regards to creating the ability to carry on a boat over Shabbos is the presence of non-Jews. Going back to a courtyard, if there are only Jews in the courtyard, they make an eruv chatzeiros in order to carry. If there are non-Jews in the courtyard as well, there is a dilemma. On the one hand, Chazal did not want the non-Jews to join into the eruv, as, if the point of the eruv is to combine all who join it as one, Chazal wanted to maintain separation between Jews and non-Jews. On the other hand, if they are not joined into the eruv chatzeiros, the original concern of Chazal (that the courtyard be confused with a reshus harabbim) applies again.
Chazal solve this dilemma with sechiras reshus, where the Jews become the sole owners of the rights of usage over Shabbos. The Jews can now, in turn, grant usage rights to the non-Jews as well, but the fact that the entire courtyard is owned by Jews allows for the implementation of an eruv chatzeiros, so the concern of confusing the courtyard with a reshus harabbim has been obviated.
In the scenario of a courtyard, sechiras reshus is relatively easy, as the Jews just need to knock on the doors of their non-Jewish counterparts, explain their issue, pay the non-Jews, and make a kinyan. When Jews lived in cities where the aristocracy owned the city, and those who lived in the city were serfs or slaves, the kinyan would simply be made with the aristocrat. In our contemporary cities, where there are many, many people independently dwelling, it would be impossible to ask every person individually. On the other hand, if there is a way to use the authorities as representatives of the city dwellers, it would solve the issue.
We can understand how to solve this issue by conceptualizing a person who owns an apartment building and also sells merchandise. It is conceivable that they would store their merchandise in those apartments. Even if the owner rents out the properties, they may still stipulate that they maintain usage rights to store their items in those apartments. In such a case, the non-Jewish owner can alone effect a sechiras reshus with the Jews in the building, because he still maintains ownership in every property. However, even if he leaves items in the apartments such as furnishings, without a clause that he has personal usage rights, he would not be able to effect a sechiras reshus, as he has given away his usage of the property to the renter. In that scenario, the items he is leaving are for the benefit of the renter, not for him as the owner.
We will discuss how this affects the eruv chatzeiros on a boat in the upcoming shiur, be’ezras Hashem.
Summary
The Chayei Adam will discuss conditions required to carry on a boat.
The first is that the boat has sides which can be considered an enclosure. This is assumed to be true for most boats automatically.
The second is the need for an eruv chatzeiros. On a boat, this second condition can be fulfilled if there is a central kitchen and dining hall for all members of the boat. This applies to a hotel as well.
The third is that they must, in some way, deal with non-Jews who are on the boat. One way would be to perform a sechiras reshus kinyan with each individual non-Jew. If it is not feasible to ask every non-Jew individually, there may be other solutions, which we will discuss in the upcoming shiurim, be’ezras Hashem.
