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Shabbos 11

(1) CARRYING ON EREV SHABBOS CLOSE TO SHABBOS
The Mishnah says that a tailor may not carry his needle outside on Erev Shabbos close to Shabbos, lest he forget and carry it on Shabbos. What is it that he will forget?

(a) The simple understanding is that he will forget that he is carrying the needle, and when Shabbos comes, he will still be carrying it and inadvertently carry it outside.

(b) However, according to Rava (11b) it cannot be that he will forget that he is carrying the needle. Rava holds that the Rabanan did not make decrees to enforce pre-existing decrees (Gezeirah l'Gezeirah). If one forgot that he was carrying an object and he carried it outside, there is no Isur d'Oraisa involved. (Shogeg is when a person forgot the Halachah. When he forgot that he was carrying, he is Mis'asek.) If so, the Rabanan would not forbid carrying a needle on *Erev Shabbos* to prevent him from inadvertently carrying it outside on *Shabbos*, because that would be a decree enforcing another decree.

Rather, we are afraid that he will forget that he is carrying the needle *until* Shabbos. On Shabbos, he will be aware that he is carrying the needle, but he might forget that it is Shabbos and carry the needle outside. (Of course, if he forgets that it is Shabbos we have much more to worry about than his taking the needle to Reshus ha'Rabim. However, we assume (a) that he will remember that it is Shabbos before doing a more obvious Melachah than carrying, and (b) this is preventable, so we try to prevent it.)

11b

QUESTION: The Gemara explains that Abaye's opinion is that the Rabanan do indeed make decrees to enforce other decrees. TOSFOS (DH Amar Abaye) points out that Abaye himself said elsewhere that the Rabanan do *not* make decrees to enforce other decrees. TOSFOS explains that Abaye maintains that the Rabanan make decrees to enforce other decrees only with regard to the Melachah of *Hotza'ah* on Shabbos.

What is different about Hotza'ah that the Rabanan felt a need to make decrees to enforce their decrees?

ANSWERS:

(a) The RAN explains that since Hotza'ah is not an obvious act of Melachah (it is a "Melachah Geru'ah"), people need an additional safeguard.

(b) The TOSFOS HA'ROSH says that since carrying items from one place to another is a very common act and is done frequently, the Rabanan needed to make extra decrees to ensure that the prohibition against carrying is observed.

(c) The RAMBAN, MAHARAM, and P'NEI YEHOSHUA explain that since a Karmelis is so similar to Reshus ha'Rabim, the Rabanan gave it the full laws of a Reshus ha'Rabim even with regard to the Isurei d'Rabanan. (This explanation seems problematic, because the Gemara goes on to cite proofs against Rava from Beraisos that deal with carrying an object into Reshus ha'Rabim in a manner that is only forbidden mid'Rabanan (on the lapel etc.). Such a transgression does not involve a Karmelis. Why did the Rabanan made decrees to enforce other decrees even when the domain under discussion is *not* a Karmelis! The Ramban answers that there, too, there is a logical justification for enforcing Rabbinic decrees, since whatever is forbidden to carry outside (from Reshus ha'Yachid into Reshus ha'Rabim) on Shabbos should also be forbidden to carry out on Erev Shabbos, lest people confuse the two cases.

(d) RASHI (DH Mai Lav) seems to say that Abaye is of the opinion that the Rabanan make decrees to enforce their other decrees in *all* prohibitions of Shabbos.