Ask A Question about the Daf

Previous daf

Sukah 43

1) CARRYING FOUR AMOS IN RESHUS HA'RABIM

QUESTIONS: Rabah says that the Rabanan decreed that one not hold a Lulav on a day of Sukos which falls on Shabbos, lest one carry it four Amos through Reshus ha'Rabim in order to bring it to an expert to learn how to perform the Mitzvah with it. RASHI asks why does Rabah say that the Rabanan were concerned that people might carry the Lulav four Amos in Reshus ha'Rabim ("Ha'avarah"), and not that they were concerned that people might carry it from Reshus ha'Yachid to Reshus ha'Rabim ("Hotza'ah")? Rashi answers that the Aveirah of carrying four Amos in Reshus ha'Rabim is much more common than the Aveirah of Hotza'ah from Reshus ha'Yachid to Reshus ha'Rabim, because it applies to a Lulav that is resting anywhere, even in a Karmelis. (That is, if one picks up the Lulav in a Karmelis and carries it 4 Amos through Reshus ha'Rabim, he transgresses Ha'avarah but not transgression Hotza'ah, since the Lulav was not resting in a Reshus ha'Yachid at the time that he picked it up). Second, even if the Lulav is in one's home (a Reshus ha'Yachid), one might pick it up without intention to carry it outside, and then he will change his mind and walk out with it, in which case he will not be Chayav for Hotza'ah because he did not do an Akirah with intention to take it out. He will be Chayav, though, for Ha'avarah in Reshus ha'Rabim.

There are a number of problems with Rashi's explanation.

(a) When one picks up the Lulav in a Karmelis and carries it into Reshus ha'Rabim, why will one be Chayav for Ha'avarah in Reshus ha'Rabim? One is only Chayav for Ha'avarah when there is an Akirah and a Hanachah in Reshus ha'Rabim! In this case, though, the person is not doing an Akirah in Reshus ha'Rabim, and therefore he should not be Chayav for Ha'avarah! (REBBI AKIVA EIGER, Shabbos 5b)

(b) In Rashi's second case, when one picks up the Lulav in order to shake it and then decides to walk out with it to Reshus ha'Rabim, it is even more difficult to understand why one is Chayav for Ha'avarah. Just like the person is not Chayav for Hotza'ah (for bringing the Lulav from Reshus ha'Yachid to Reshus ha'Rabim) since there was no Akirah with intention to bring it out, one should also not be Chayav for Ha'avarah in such a case since there was no Akirah l'Shem Ha'avarah (see Shabbos 153a)! (TOSFOS DH v'Ya'avirenu)

(c) There is a more basic reason, which Rashi ignores, for why the Gemara does not mention the concern for Hotza'ah from Reshus ha'Yachid to Reshus ha'Rabim. If, as his words imply, Rashi holds that one does not need to do an Akirah in Reshus ha'Rabim in order to be Chayav for carrying four Amos in Reshus ha'Rabim, then Rashi should have explained like the RA'AVAD (quoted by the ME'IRI), who says that since a person normally picks up a Lulav in his house, we are afraid that he will take his Lulav from his house to the house of the expert. Since he is going from one Reshus ha'Yachid to another Reshus ha'Yachid, he is not Chayav for Hotza'ah, but he *is* Chayav for walking four Amos through Reshus ha'Rabim!

ANSWERS:

(a) The RE'EM (in his notes on the SEMAG, quoted by the KAPOS TEMARIM here) and Rebbi Akiva Eiger explain Rashi as follows. Rashi understood that the expert to whom the person is going to bring his Lulav is in Reshus ha'Rabim, and not in Reshus ha'Yachid. Rashi holds that one is Chayav for Ha'avarah in Reshus ha'Rabim only if he did an Akirah and Hanachah *in Reshus ha'Rabim*. Only if the expert is in Reshus ha'Rabim, and thus there is a Hanachah in Reshus ha'Rabim, will one be Chayav for Ha'avarah. The reason one will be Chayav if the Lulav was picked up from a Karmelis, even though there was no Akirah in Reshus ha'Rabim, is because it is natural for a person walking a moderate distance to stop for a moment to rest. At the moment that he stops, the item that he is carrying is considered resting in Reshus ha'Rabim, so that when he starts walking again, he will be doing an Akirah in Reshus ha'Rabim! When he does the Hanachah in Reshus ha'Rabim when he reaches the expert, he will be Chayav for Ha'avarah in Reshus ha'Rabim. This answers the first question.

(b) The second question is answered the same way. Rashi does not mean that if one does an Akirah in Reshus ha'Yachid without intention to bring the Lulav out of his home one will still be Chayav for Ha'avarah if he walks with it four Amos in Reshus ha'Rabim. Rather, Rashi means that one will be Chayav for walking four Amos in Reshus ha'Rabim because at some point after his arrival in Reshus ha'Rabim, he will probably stop to rest. When he starts walking again in order to go another four Amos, he will have done an Akirah in Reshus ha'Rabim. One is not Chayav for Hotza'ah from Reshus ha'Yachid to Reshus ha'Rabim, though, because he did not do the Akirah with intention to bring the Lulav outside. We are not concerned that he might stop to rest *in his house* and then start walking again with intention to go outside (which constitutes a proper Akirah in Reshus ha'Yachid), because normally one only walks a short distance in his house until he reaches the threshold, and there is no need to stop and rest before exiting.

(c) The answer to the third question (why Rashi did not explain like the Ra'avad) is that Rashi most likely holds that in such a case one is Patur. Rashi holds that in order to be Chayav for carrying four Amos in Reshus ha'Rabim, one must do an Akirah and a Hanachah in Reshus ha'Rabim.

This is Rashi's approach. TOSFOS, who questioned Rashi's explanation (question (b) above), did not understand Rashi in this manner. He understood that Rashi holds that if one does an Akirah in a Karmelis or Reshus ha'Yachid, one *can* be Chayav for carrying the item four Amos in Reshus ha'Rabim (even if he does not stop again to rest) regardless of whether or not he intended to carry the object in Reshus ha'Rabim at the time he picked it up. Yet Tosfos seems to disagrees with Rashi only on his latter point. If so, we can learn from Tosfos that as long as the person intended to carry the object in Reshus ha'Rabim at the time he picked it up he will be Chayav for Ha'avarah, even if he picked it up in a Karmelis or a Reshus ha'Yachid. (This is also evident from TOSFOS Eruvin 33a DH v'Ha and 34a DH v'Amai, see TOTZA'OS CHAYIM at the beginning of Maseches Shabbos.) The RA'AVAD that the Me'iri cited (mentioned in question (c), above) is clearly of this opinion as well. The ME'IRI also mentions this opinion in Shabbos (97b).

43b