From the Rav’s Desk: Do brick posts by a yard entrance serve as a Tzuras Pesach to allow one to carry on Shabbos?

Brick posts by yard entrance

1. Question: [Thursday 19^th Sivan 5780]

If a home front garden entrance has brick posts where a gate used to be attached but now the gate is off, is this still called Tzuras Hapesach to allow one to carry on Shabbos or does there actually have to be a gate attached?

Answer:

As a general rule, the laws of Eiruvin are very intricate and complex and contain various factors that can affect the validity of an area. Accordingly, by Eiruvin related questions, it is best to try to show the physical area to a local Rav who is an expert in Eiruvin and follow his advice. Nonetheless, based on the descriptions you gave, so long as all the following conditions are fulfilled then it is a valid Reshus Hayachid:

1. The leftover brick posts are at least one Tefach wide [8 centimeters] and 10 Tefach tall [80 centimeters]
2. The leftover brick posts are on each side of the entrance, or is only on one side of the entrance but is 4 Tefach wide [32 centimeters] and 10 Tefach tall.
3. There are three other walls by the garden [i.e. the wall of the house, and two side walls which extend from the entrance of the house to the gated entrance].
4. The entrance space to the garden which was created by the removed gate is no more than 10 Amos [490 centimeters] long. If the space created by the removed gate is more than 10 Amos, then it requires Kosher Tzuras Pesach created by a string which hovers over a 10 Tefach tall post.

If all the above conditions are fulfilled, then it is valid without doing anything else and you may carry to and from it on Shabbos without reattaching the fence. This is because ideally an Achsadra, which is a three walled room is already Biblically considered a Reshus Hayachid and requires a mere recognition of protrusions in its open fourth direction in order to validate it. However, there are various details in this protrusion, and it is only valid under the above conditions, otherwise it is Rabbinically forbidden to carry to and from it on Shabbos, and it has the same law as a Karmalis. If, however, one creates a Kosher Tzuras Pesach using a string that hovers over a Ten Tefach pole at each end, then it once again becomes valid even if it does not have any valid protrusion on the fourth open side.

Sources: See Eiruvin 5; Michaber 363:1-2; Admur 363:1-4; 345:6; 386:1; M”B 363:8-9; Eiruv Kehilchaso p. 68-73