Chapter 17
Principles of the Laws Relating to the Transfer of Objects from One Place to Another
PROHIBITIONS UPON THE TRANSFER OF OBJECTS FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER ON SHABBATH
10.a. To be forbidden by the Torah (as opposed to being the subject of a Rabbinical prohibition), a transfer must contain three elements:
1) the displacement of the object from its former position, with the intention of transferring it,
2) the actual transfer of the object, either from one reshuth to the other or for a distance of four amoth within reshuth ha-rabbim, as the case may be, and
3) the subsequent depositing of the object.
10.b. If a person has an object in his hand or in his pocket, of the object, while
1) commencing to walk is regarded as the displacement
2) stopping is regarded as depositing it.
10.c. The Rabbis have forbidden transfers even in circumstances where one does not perform all three of the above activities, so that it is not permitted
1) a) for one person to pick up an article and transfer it into the other reshuth, even without depositing it there, and
b) for a second person then to take it from his hand in the other reshuth and put it down or stand with it there, or
2) a) for one person to pick up an article (intending it to be transferred into the other reshuth) and, rather than transfer it himself, put it into a second person’s hand and
b) for that second person then to transfer the article into the other reshuth and put it down or stand with it there.
