When a Child Does a Sit-Down on Shabbos

When a Child Does a Sit-Down on Shabbos

The afternoon is long, the weather is not too hot and the kids need some fresh air, so the young family goes for a Shabbos walk. After only five pleasant minutes, the activity turns sour when two-year-old Yanky refuses to go further. There is no eruv in the area, so he cannot be carried home. His parents try to move him along, but he refuses to put one foot in front of the other. No amount of cajoling from his older siblings or the promise of treats at home does the trick. Are they stuck there for the day?

It is an issur d’oraysa (a Biblical prohibition) to move something on Shabbos from reshus to reshus (one domain to another, e.g., from private to public or semi-public or vice versa) or to carry it a distance of four amos (arm-lengths, i.e. about 6 feet total) in reshus harabim (the public domain, i.e., a main thoroughfare or a street that is directly connected to one). There is an additional issur d’rabbanan (a Rabbinic prohibition) of carrying in a karmelis (the semi-public sphere that is not a halachic reshus harabim).

There is also a gezairah mi’d’Rabbanan (Decree of the Talmudic Sages) that forbids assisting living things in a reshus harabim or karmelis on Shabbos—for example, holding up a pre-ambulant child under the arms so they can swing their legs to mimic walking (or helping an ambulant animal similarly)—as it may lead to carrying them. However, there is a heter (dispensation) based on the principle of chai nosei es atzmo (a living person carries themselves) to assist a child who is able to walk themselves, as long as they are shifting their weight from one foot to the other in the normal manner of walking. This heter does not extend to walking while carrying a child outright (even an ambulant child) nor are two adults permitted to drag a child between them.

(Likewise, two adults walking a child should not allow the child to swing between them, so the child lifts their feet off the ground and is thus carried. In a related manner, parents should not lift a child onto a stoop or low garden wall from the sidewalk.)

If the child who refuses to walk is content and protected from traffic and the elements, it would be best halachically to wait it out until the child is willing to walk on their own. But for a child who is obviously in distress or whose wellbeing might be compromised, what are possible solutions?

Form a human chain. Two adults or more can pass the child from hand to hand, each person moving less than a distance of four amos at a time. If this is not an option, then a non-Jew may carry the child until they reach their home.

An older child under Bar or Bas Mitzvah (a katan) may carry the child uninterrupted, as long as someone else hands them the child once the katan begins moving and removes the child before the katan stops. Parents utilizing this workaround should ensure that it not negatively affect their children’s chinuch (Torah education)—especially if other young siblings are present.

A single adult may carry the child less than four amos, only if none of the above options are available. To get the child home, this would mean walking in increments of less than four amos, preferably sitting down for a rest each time.

If none of the other workarounds are possible, and there is overriding concern for the child’s welfare, some poskim allow the noncompliant child to be carried when in a karmelis.

When arriving home, in all these situations, , the child should make the transition from public to private property on their own. If this is not possible, and a non-Jew isn't available, one adult should stand on the inside and stretch out their arms outside, above the height of ten tefachim (handbreadths, i.e., almost a meter in all), and another person should hand the child to them.

In any of these scenarios, the heter is to carry only the ambulant child themselves, so if the child is carrying something or wearing a non-garment, it should be removed before moving the child.

(None of these solutions apply when a parent is merely trying to hurry along a slow-moving child. Since most of these circumventions involve some sort of halachic loophole, they should not be planned in advance, and children who cannot be relied on as “verified” walkers or who are easily tired should not be taken out for a walk on Shabbos.)

https://halacha2go.com?number=662

Practical Halacha: One minute a day. By Horav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, shlita, Mara D'asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights.