Eruvin 17 - Fence of ropes

Another possibility to spend Shabbat in a caravan in a desert is to surround it with ropes: they can stretch three ropes at a distance of three hand-breadths from each other. If the thickness of the ropes together adds up to a hand-breadth, then they have a valid fence ten hand-breadths high. They could also surround their camp with vertical poles, ten hand-breadths high, and place them at three hand-breadths from each other.

How does this work? It relies on the principles of "Closing", "Lavud" in Hebrew, which states that a gap of three hand-breadths can be considered closed for the purposes of Shabbat, ritual purity, and other similar laws where partitions are involved.

However, there are those who disagree. Rabbi Yehudah limits the partition of ropes only for a caravan of three or more people. His son Rabbi Yose is even more strict: he says that any partition that does not have criss-cross elements is not a partition. The Sages, however, say that a partition can be either vertical or horizontal.

Wait a minute! The Sages are repeating themselves!? - This is another group of Sages, and they differ with the first one in permitting such partition even for an individual at home, not in a desert.

Art: Francesco Peluso - An Algerian Caravan At Rest

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