SEPHARDIC HALACHA CENTER BAIS HAVAAD ON THE PARSHA Parashat VaYakhel 5779 MODERN DAY ERUVIN: RENTING FROM AN AKUM

One of the 39 Melachot which are forbidden on Shabbat is carrying from a private to a public domain. Enclosing a public domain with an Eruv can sometimes turn it into a private domain. Even in an enclosed space, in order to carry, all of the inhabitants of the houses must convene and place an “Eruv” – a joined amount of food which is considered to be a community meal. If there are non-Jews in that enclosure, Hachamim required that the Jew rents the Akum’s domain, and thus raise suspicions and discourage intermingling. The Rashba writes that this rental requirement is very lenient and one can even give a symbolic dollar (obviously as per Halacha) to rent the Akum’s domain and fulfill this requirement.