Chapter 18
Specific Laws Relating to the Transfer of Objects from One Place to Another on Shabbath, Where There Is No Eiruv
Specific laws relating to the transfer of objects from one place to another on Yom Tov are dealt with in Chapter 19.
ARTICLES WHICH ARE WORN
19.a. It is permitted to go out wearing a dressing over a wound, as the dressing is required for the purposes of the body and is thus considered to be a tachshit.
19.b. One may even wrap a handkerchief around a wound as a protection and go out with it in this way.
19.c. The dressing may be secured with an item which has no intrinsic value and is normally thrown away after use, such as a piece of thread.
19.d. One should not go out with a dressing secured by something which does have some value in itself and is not thrown away afterwards, such as a handkerchief.
19.e. 1) If one winds an item around a dressing, not with the purpose of securing the dressing, but rather of transferring that item from one reshuth to another, it is forbidden to go out with it into reshuth ha-rabbim.
2) This is so even if the item is merely a piece of thread, or some other item which has no intrinsic value.
3) The reason for this is that
- a) on the one hand, one is in fact attributing a separate value to the thread, so that its identity is not merged within that of the dressing, and
- b) on the other hand, it does not by itself fall within the definition of a tachshit.
19.f. One may not go out into reshuth ha-rabbim wearing a dressing whose only purpose is to keep one’s clothing from being soiled with blood, rather than to protect or heal the wound.
19.g. It is also forbidden to go out into reshuth ha-rabbim wearing a dressing which is not firmly attached, if it is worn not to protect or heal a wound but merely to cover a blemish so as to prevent its being seen.
