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Stroller Roof on Shabbos

On shabbos it was raining, can one use the attached hood of a stroller to block out the rain for a child? The hood is attached but can move(it can be stretched out and can also moved forward to block wind), so the hood could block the child’s head or could be used to block the front of a child leaving the head exposed. If one can use the hood, can one move the hood of the stroller to block out the rain and wind of the child’s body, and then put a towel on top of the exposed place of the hood so no rain falls on the child head at all? One would be moving the ohel the ohel to a different location in this case? Is moving an ohel to another location considered making a new ohel?
b) a play tent was left out in the living room on shabbos, can one move this portable play tent on shabbos out of the living room? Once again the ohel and walls of the tent will be moving to another location? By moving it is one making a new ohel and walls?

Answer:

Some permit the use of an attached roof of a stroller on Shabbos.

Although this creates an ohel, a (temporary) canopy, which is prohibited on Shabbos, in this case there is room for leniency, based on a ruling of the Rema (Hilchos Succah, Orach Chaim 626:3) which states that it is permitted to open and shut hinged flaps that are used for covering the succah when raining. The rationale is that because the flaps are made to open and shut, their use is defined as opening and closing a door, and not to creating an ohel (see also Beis Yosef 315).

The Chazon Ish (Orach Chaim 52:6) extrapolated from here it is similarly permitted to open a canopy connected to a stroller. Since the canopy is attached to the stroller before Shabbos, and is made to open and close, it is permitted to open it on Shabbos. This is the ruling cited by Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasa (24:13).

Other authorities, however, cast doubt over this heter, and do not permit the opening of the roof of a stroller that was not opened before Shabbos (see Minchas Yitzchak 10:26; while not clearly adopting a stringent stance, Iggros Moshe, Orach Chaim 4, p. 194, writes that the custom seems to be to be stringent).

This stringency is based on the wording of a number of poskim, who only permit the opening and closing of a cover/canopy where there is no intention to create an ohel (see Shulchan Aruch Harav 315:15). An actual door on hinges, even if it serves as a canopy, is different according to these opinions, because it is not defined as a canopy but as a door. This is also the ruling given by Badei Hashulchan (120:8).

To ensure that it is permitted to open the roof according to all opinions, one should leave a tefach (a little less than 10cm, depending on different opinions) of the roof open from before Shabbos. This will permit the full opening of the roof on Shabbos (Shulchan Aruch 315:2).

The roof cannot be disconnected and re-connected, but it can be moved while still connceted to the stroller. Under conditions where it is permitted to open the roof, it is also permitted to place a towel over the roof. It is likewise fine to move the play-tent, and this is not considered building the ohel anew.


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2 Comments

  1. Lkavod Harav, thanks for the psak. I found Rabbi Yosef Shlitta in Yachava Daas (2:43) mention in his teshuva about umbrellas that the Michtam Ldavid holds that moving an existing ohel to a different location is a problem. However, he quotes the Noda Biyuda as saying the problem of the Umbrulla is maybe only Mares Ayin and not making a new Ohel (if opened before shabbos). The Noda Biyuda though brings a svara to say that it is a problem as well. Has the Rav found poskim clearly saying that moving an existing ohel to another location is permitted?

    1. See Orchos Shabbos, Chap. 9, note 60, in the name of Rav Shmuel Auerbach, who writes that it stands to reason that there is no prohibition of moving a standing ohel, and that this is not considered taking it down and putting it up again — though he concludes with a tzarich iyun. See also Veha’ish Moshe (p. 155), where the Chazon Ish wrote that there is no concern for moving a chair on Shabbos on account of moving an ohel from one place to another — but this could be because a chair is not an ohel. However, I saw in Menuchas Emes (Rav Mordechai Gross) that he prohibits moving a parasol because of concerns of moving an ohel, but his source (from the Mishnah Berurah 315) are unclear to me.
      Concerning the question of an umbrella, see at length also Nachlas Levi, Vol. 2, no. 36.

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