• I

  israel -12 years ago

  Making a Tent
  Hi Rabbi,
  
  great lecture!  Sometimes on Shabbat we take a Blanket and put it across a few chairs for the kids to play under. Is this making a roof?
  
  Can we do this?
  
  
  
  thanks so much,
  
  israel

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: Making a Tent
    It seems to me that it is a halachik problem, since the objective is clearly to play and enjoy the space below the blanket. This would be a "ohel arai," a temporary roof, which will come down in a few minutes or in a few hours, but it is clearly being made and designated as an "ohel" for the time being, though it is only for play.
    
    
    
    This is unlike a tablecloth which suspends down till the floor, where the objective is not to create a "protected space" beneath the table, plus there is no space between the tablecloth and the table (Mishna Berurah Orach Chaim 315:31). In this case, 1) the objective is the space below the blanket; 2) there is a "tefach" between the roof and the ground.
    
    
    
    Nor can one rely on the "heter" of first holding up the blanket and then putting in the chairs under the blanket, the method employed for beds (Shlachan Aruch Orach Chaim 315:3; Shlachan Aruch HaRav ibid. 315:9), where you hold up the plank of the bed first and then you place the legs beneath it, since there his main objective is not to use the space beneath the bed, though he may use the space under the bed for shoes etc. and hence there is need for this change [Which is why in a case where you completely don't need the space beneath the "ohel," you can go ahead and spread out a roof without any change, see Shlchan Aruch ibid. 315:7, and Shlchan Aruch HaRav ibid. 315:12 explaining the difference between placing a book over two books vs. a matrace over standing walls).
    
    
    
    In this case however, your objective is to create a space to play and hide under the roof.
    
    
    
    Yet when the children are small, there may not an obligation to stop them from playing this game.
    
    
    
    I am not in the position of giving a verdict on this manner. Rabbi Wineberg, would you please give us the verdict?

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• B

  Berel -12 years ago

  Question
  I have a dining room table made of pieces, can I add on shabbos a few planks to make the table longer, it fits in easily through little protruding sticks which go in to the hole of the nearby plank?
  
  
  
  Thanks for all these awesome classes.

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  • RLW

    R. L. Wineberg -12 years ago

    Re: Question
    To: Berel
    
    If you are referring to a "leaf" of a table which has pegs sticking out, and that is the only way in which the boards can  connect, , - which is the usual situation-(so there is no gezerah shema yitka)
    
    
    
    it's ok.
    
    
    
    If there's any way of tightening them together (with screws for example,( uncommon for indoor furniture)) , I would need you to describe it more fully in order to answer.

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• Y

  Yossel -12 years ago

  Boots
  Re the story of Reb Michel Bliner:
  
  
  
  I understood it to mean that the ultimate unity of Hashem is to help another Jew, as is explained in many places.

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  • RLW

    R. L. Wineberg -12 years ago

    Re: Boots
    To Yossel
    
    Interesting take; I never thought of it that way.
    
    But if that's what he meant, why mention D.H.'s name, instead of just "a yid's shtivel"?
    
    Reb D.H. has einiklach who are among us, thank G-d. If any of them have heard the vort and an accompanying explanation, would you be so kind as to tell us what you heard from elder Chassidim.
    
    But Yossel, you are quite right about helping one's fellow being yichuda ila'ah, as is evident from the Alter Rebbe's  saying to his sons about the difference between a maskil and an oved - if you're unfamiliar with it, write me, and i'll write it bl'n.
    
    On the other hand, even the anshei Yericho who would go straight from Shema to Ve'ahavta (see Likutei Torah tzav 14c) didn't intend that the mitzvos be performed during Shma.
    
    (If this last part is not familiar to you, write me)
    

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• Q

  Question -12 years ago

  I Did Not Understand
  Thanks for the class. After you explain the meaning of a "roof" connecting things under it, vs. a wall, creating seperations--you never got back to Shabbos: why is a roof forbidden, and a wall in many cases permissible? But yet when it creates different properties it is also forbidden? I did not  understand the connection of the spiritual explanations in roof and walls to the first half of the shuir? Please explain.
  
  
  
  I enjoy the classes.

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  • RW

    Rabbi Wineberg -12 years ago

    Re: I Did Not Understand
    You have raised an important issue. Because it is basic, and it bothered several questtioners, I have addressed it in the shiur. (Shiur 2 of makeh b'patish). Thank you.

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• J

  Joseph -12 years ago

  High Risers?
  Question to the Rabbi:
  
  
  
  Often on Shabbos, I pull out from under one bed a High Riser and lift it up. Wow, is that permissible on Shabbos? You said to do it with a change, but this is a high riser, and you just pick it up.
  
  
  
  I mean, the bed does become technically a tent "protecting" that which is under it, but all week it is under the other bed.
  
  
  
  Please advise.

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  • RLW

    R. L. Wineberg -12 years ago

    Re: High Risers?
    To Joseph
    
    Good Question.
    
    You may have noticed that the shiur discussed folding tables, which i said could be set up normally. The same applies to high-risers...
    
    Actually all of Shabbos is about lifting "high -risers", but more of that in the next shiur iy"H

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Levi Wineberg

• January 20, 2012
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• 25 Tevet 5772
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• 316 views

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