- Q. A person that needs a wheelchair to come to shul or visit friends, can he be pushed by a friend if he can just walk a little by himself, if there is no Eruv on that town? Is it better if he moves the chair himself with his hands?
A. Carrying an inanimate object on Shabbos in a public domain is strictly forbidden by a Biblical prohibition. However, Carrying a live human who is able to walk on his own, is not so strictly forbidden since in Halacha he is considered as if he is “transporting himself” and providing help to his own transport, yet he is still Rabbinicaly prohibited.
If we add that most poskim rule that our streets are commonly only a karmelis and only forbidden rabbinically, therefore to carry a person who can walk on his own, under extenuating circumstances it could be permitted.
See next question.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Yaakov Hirschman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit'a
Important Numbers
