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

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 28/10/16 07:49, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> 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.

Neither of these examples can honestly be cited as sources for the 
extreme assertion in the article.  In both these cases the question is 
simply whether one has a use for the item, not whether one could get 
along without it.  If the drawer contains something that has a yomtov 
use one may carry the key, *even if* one's house is perfectly safe.  And 
one may carry a knife to cut fruit, *even if* one can eat them without 
cutting, or there's likely to be a knife where the fruit is.  It's only 
when the key is to a lock that one has no reason ever to open on yomtov, 
or the knife is being carried to a place where there is nothing to cut, 
that one may not carry 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."

Again, this is a situation where it is guaranteed that there will never 
be a legitimate reason to use the key on yomtov.  There is nothing in 
the drawer that one might want on yomtov, nor is one going to put 
anything there on yomtov.  The only reason one is carrying the key is so 
that it won't be stolen; thus it has no use on yomtov, but the MB says 
that if carrying it gives one peace of mind then perhaps that itself is 
a yomtov use.


> 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.

And yet you carry the key.  Why don't you leave it at home, both on 
shabbos and yomtov, and let those people let you in?   Obviously you 
have a reason, and thus a use for the key.  Therefore there is not even 
a hava amina that you should not carry it on yomtov.


-- 
Zev Sero                Wishing everyone a good aquittal
zev at sero.name