[Avodah] CARRYING ON YOM TOV: IS IT ALWAYS PERMITTED?

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R' Yitzchok Levine quoted Rabbi Doniel Neustadt from torah.org <
http://tinyurl.com/h7s3g2z>:

> But even when all poskim agree that carrying a house key is a genuine
> Yom Tov need, carrying a key is permitted only when no other option
> is available. If the house can be locked and then reopened without
> carrying a key, all poskim would agree that it is prohibited to carry
> the key. Carrying under such circumstances falls into the category of
> carrying for "no purpose", which is strictly forbidden(15).

> 15) Shulchan Aruch Harav 618:1.

R' Zev Sero commented:

> This seems to me completely wrong and without any source. (Footnote
> 15, even after applying the obvious correction, does not support this
> claim at all.   I believe that the writer never bothered looking his
> alleged sources up, or he would not have given the same incorrect
> chapter number *eight times*.)
>
> Just because one *has* a combination lock doesn't mean one must use
> it. ... ...

The "incorrect chapter number" that RZS refers to is "618", which should be
"518". My opinion is that the writer surely *did* look his sources up, but
this sort of error is one which is very easy to make. Translating "tav kuf"
into a number requires rudimentary arithmetic, and it is all too easy to be
off by 100. And then, having made the error once, it is frighteningly easy
to neglect checking the math on subsequent citations, even "eight times" or
more. I've made this sort of mistake myself, an embarrassingly high number
of times. (The best prevention is when someone *other* than the author does
the proofreading, but not everyone has the time or resources for this.)

Anyway, back to the halacha in question. The last half of that Shulchan
Aruch Harav gives two examples: One may carry the key to his desk drawer on
Yom Tov, but only if that drawer contains items like food and drink, but
not if it contains only money. And one may carry his pocketknife with him
all day because he might come across a fruit that needs to be cut, but not
when he goes to shul because such a situation would definitely not arise.
It seems to me that both of these are good sources for the halacha that one
may not carry the housekey if one can get into the house without it.

It seems to me that an even better source for this halacha might be Mishne
Brura 518:6. At first he is even more lenient than ShArHarav, saying that
avoiding the worry about losing his money *is* enough tzorech to warrant
carrying the key to that drawer. But then he cites a machlokes on whether
theft prevention is enough of a tzorech to justify m'leches hotzaah on Yom
Tov. He recommends being machmir on this point, and then adds (in the
square brackets): "And especially in a situation where one can give the
objects or the key to a trustworthy person who is at home, for then it is
assur according to all opinions."

In contrast to what RSZ wrote, if one has a combination lock for his home
that he uses on Shabbos, then this Mishne Brura seems to be saying that he
*does* have to use it on Yom Tov too. When I lived in an area without an
eruv, I wore my Shabbos Key on Yom Tov, precisely because of this Mishne
Brurah. There were people at home who could let me in, so I didn't see any
heter to carry the housekey.

Akiva Miller
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