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

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 30/10/16 15:41, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> I don't want any of the things in my house to get stolen, and that's why I
> lock the house when I go to shul. There is a machlokes on whether or not
> this justifies carrying the key on Yom Tov, and the MB says that if I can
> secure those things in some other way, then "all opinions" forbid me to
> carry the key.

No, there is no such machlokes.  All opinions *permit* you to carry your 
house key, because you are not carrying it to prevent theft, you are 
carrying it to get back in to your house!   You are confusing two very 
different things: why you locked the house and why you are carrying the 
key.  It doesn't matter why you lock your house; the fact is that you 
did lock it, and therefore the key will serve the purpose of letting you 
back in.

The only machlokes is about the safe key, for which you have no use at 
all on yomtov.  You carry it with you for peace of mind; the MB says 
perhaps that itself is a valid yomtov use, but if you can get that peace 
of mind in some other way then there is no heter to carry the key.

But when the key itself has a use there is no sevara to forbid carrying 
it, and no opinion that forbids it, even if you could achieve the same 
purpose without the key.  How you choose to get in is your business, and 
you don't need a reason at all, let alone a good one.

As I wrote the first time, the position being proposed would imply that 
you may not carry a siddur to shul if there is a shul in your building 
where you could daven without carrying, or if there are siddurim at shul 
that you could use.   It would also imply that even if the key is your 
only way to get back home, you may not carry it if you have no reason to 
go out in the first place.  Both of these are absurd results.  You may 
go out on yomtov, even for absolutely no reason at all, and you may 
still carry a key; you may go to any shul you choose, even if you have 
absolutely no reason to prefer it to another once, and you may carry 
anything you anticipate that you might want there.  You are only 
forbidden to carry things you are certain not to have any use at all for 
-- and even those the MB is willing to permit if not having them will 
disturb your yomtov.




>> 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.
>
> There might have been more reasons, but I can only think of two now: They
> might not hear me knocking, and even if they do hear me knocking, I don't
> want to trouble them to come unlock the door.

If that's enough of a need in your mind that it causes you to take the 
key, then by definition it's enough of a need to justify carrying it on 
yomtov, *even if* my argument above were not valid.  There is no such 
thing as "not enough of a need"; *any* need is enough.  But my main 
argument is that it wouldn't make a difference if you had *no* reason 
for taking the key, if it were a mere whim; it would still be permitted, 
because lepo'el you have a use for it, unlike the safe key for which you 
have no use.




-- 
Zev Sero                Hit the road, Jack
zev at sero.name           but please come back once more