Beit Midrash

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To dedicate this lesson
condensed from Ein Ayah, Shabbat 11:20

Subtle Melachot Performed According to Form

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Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit

Sivan 10 5780
Gemara: [In a certain case,] if one passes an object from domain to domain, he is guilty of chillul Shabbat, but if he throws it, he is exempt.

Ein Ayah: Carrying is a preparatory action for other melachot (work that is forbidden on Shabbat). It has the potential of melacha, but carrying is not an active melacha. Nature did not place the imprint of a melacha on it. It brings no strengthening of an object or change to it in any form, just that the object moves to a different place.

However, it is only from a human perspective that movement is not considered a melacha as long as the object stays the same from a physical perspective. However, from the true perspective, all physical changes are only the "equivalent" of movements from place to place. Therefore, carrying is also considered a melacha like others. It is just that when one describes it, it must be connected to an application connected to the divine will. It is this connection that makes it considered a melacha.

Therefore, the carrying has to be done in the manner that it was in the Mishkan in order for it to be melacha. The imprint of the melacha, after all, comes from the fact that the Leviim performed it in that way. If the work is done in a different manner (i.e., by throwing), then one has to return to the realm of normal human activity. In that realm, a melacha has to change the object, and therefore if one passes it, he is guilty and if he throws it he is exempt. Since the realm of divine activity is not involved in the action of throwing, it must be viewed as a natural action evaluated according to human conceptions of melacha, so that carrying is not included.
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