סימן שפב סוף סעיף א-ב

We’re in Seif Aleph (section Aleph), the Rema. Yesterday, we spoke about what happens when a Jew lives in the same courtyard as a goy (non-Jew). The house only causes a problem if there’s another Jew there in a different house, so that there are two Jews. Then you have to rent the goy’s property—his share in the courtyard—to be able to carry.

The Rema says that if a Jew rents out or lends out his house to a goy, let’s assume that this Jew also has a different house in the courtyard, where another Jewish family lives. Now there are two Jewish homes, and he’s giving one of his homes to the goy; he’s renting or lending it to him. Does that cause the goy to create a problem for them? The goy is not going to cause a problem. I’m not renting or lending you my house in order for you to cause me a problem.

But if the home belonged to a goy, and a Jew rented it from him, now there’s another Jew in this courtyard. You, a Jew, rent the goy’s home in the courtyard, and the goy lives in the same house too. He has a room in the house that he’s allowed to live in. So now there are two Jews and a goy. Although you’re renting the home from the goy, since he does have his own room there, renting the home does not count as renting his property for Shabbat so that you can carry. The goy is still considered the owner, and the fact that you’re renting now makes you a resident as well. So now there are two Jews and a goy, and you’ll have to make a separate rental for his reshut (domain) to be able to carry with the other Jew.

The third case is Yisrael shehish'il o hishkir bayit lechaveiro. A Jew lends or rents out a house to his friend, and it’s the same story. This Jew has two homes in this courtyard, and there’s a goy living there. So far there’s no problem. But if you rent one of your homes to another Jew, what do we say? Even though you left your furniture in the house, so you’re really the owner and he’s just renting it, that’s not good enough to consider you the owner of both homes. Now it’s considered to be you and the goy. The Jewish resident who’s renting your home counts, so now there are two Jews and a goy, and you’ll have to rent the goy’s house—you’ll have to rent his reshut—to be able to carry. Those are the three cases of the Rema.

Let us see the Mishnah Berurah, Seif Katan Zayin (small section Zayin): Delo hishkir (that he did not rent). Case one was that you rented or lent your house to the goy, and you and another Jew live in this courtyard. You rented or lent your second home to the goy, and he doesn’t cause you a problem. Why? Because I’m not renting it to him for him to cause me problems.

The Rashba gives another reason for this law. It’s rare for a Jew to rent or lend a home to a goy in a courtyard where he’s living, and the rabbis did not make a decree in an abnormal case. This law only applies if you told the goy that you could throw him out at any moment. Then it’s still considered completely yours. But if you’re not able to get rid of him, and he has a certain contract that allows him to stay, the Gra holds that of course he causes a problem. It’s not up to you, and you would need to rent out his property. In no bet, he says, and the Beit Yosef says that even if the baal ha-bayit (homeowner) cannot get rid of the goy, still the goy is not going to cause a problem in the courtyard. He doesn’t hold like the Gra, because you are still the owner, and I didn’t rent it out to him for him to cause me a problem.

Seif Katan Chet (small section Chet): Aval im ha-bayit (But if the house...). Now you have the case where the goy lives there, with another Jew in a different house. A Jew rents the goy’s house, but the goy is still living there in a room. You rented the goy’s home, but the goy is still living there. The rental you make doesn’t help, and the goy still has a share in the courtyard. You might have thought that I wouldn’t rent a home from a goy in a case where it would be asur (forbidden) for me to carry unless I rented separately. So you might have thought that their house is automatically included in the rental. The Rema is telling you, no, we don’t say that. Therefore, you do need an additional rental of his domain in order to be able to carry.

So again, there’s already a Jew living there, along with a goy. You rent out the goy’s house, but the goy still has a room in that house. You must rent the goy’s space separately—a token rental—in order to be able to carry there on Shabbat. The goy lives there, and the renter lives there with you. In this case, the goy has a private room in that house that is his. If the Jew had permission to use every spot in the house and the goy had nothing exclusive, then you’re not any less than a Jewish worker for a goy. That will come up later, where you don’t need to rent his property. If you had the complete ability to take over every room in that house, then you would not need to rent his property.

The last case here was a Jew renting or lending out his home to another Jew. There’s one Jewish home already in the courtyard with a goy, and now you, a Jew, rent your property to another Jew. The owner of the other house happens to own this house too. So you own both houses, and you keep your furniture in the house you rented to the Jew. Do we look at it as one, since you’re the only owner in this courtyard, so it’s one and one? Or do we say that this person is now a renter and a new resident, and you need to get a rental from the goy? The Rema ruled that you need to get a rental.

The Jew has two homes in this courtyard, and one home belongs to a goy. The Jew lives in one home, and he rented the second one to another Jew. But in that second home, he left vessels that are not movable on Shabbat. Normally, when you have that with another Jew, you don’t need to make an eruv (communal joining) with him, as it says in Siman Shin Ayin (chapter Shin Ayin). So maybe it’s the same here. Still, you’re not considered one for this law, and you still need to rent the goy’s property. Leaving your furniture there is no better than making an eruv among yourselves. Even an eruv is not good enough until you rent out the goy’s property. So here, too, you’re going to have to rent out the goy’s property. As it says in Seif Katan Dalet (small section Dalet), there is a reference there that I have written about.

One more case: Seif Bet (section Bet). Let’s say you have two Jews in the courtyard, each with a house, and a goy. Now you need to rent the goy’s property. Let’s say the two Jews decide to make bitul (nullification) to each other: “I’ll make bitul to you.” Now it’s considered like one and one, and you’ll be able to carry. Then, when I want to carry, you’ll make bitul to me. It doesn’t work. Why not? It says that when one guy makes bitul, the other guy can carry. What’s wrong with this? You’re never going to have an eruv in this mavoy (alleyway), because you’re never going to need to rent from the goy. You’ll always do bitul, and people will forget about eruv. We don’t want that to happen in that courtyard, so the rabbis do not allow bitul to make it one and one. You still have to make an eruv and rent from the goy. This will take us to Seif Gimel (section Gimel), which will be tomorrow’s page.