Rabbi Yehuda Finchas
One Friday morning, Ronnie approached me, with concern etched on his face. “Rabbi,” he said, “I broke my leg playing ball and without these crutches I cannot take even a few paces. But there is no eruv in our neighborhood. Am I allowed to walk with the crutches to beit knesset on Shabbat so that I can attend the youth minyan?”
Not long after, Miriam, a woman in her sixties who had been confined to a wheelchair following a serious illness, asked a similar question. “Rabbi,” she said softly, “without my wheelchair I cannot move at all. Can I wheel myself to synagogue on Shabbat for my grandson’s bar mitzva next month, or can someone push me?”
The Halachic Framework
The Torah forbids hotza’ah – carrying from a private to a public domain on Shabbat. This prohibition includes carrying an object, as well as pushing or dragging it. However, Maran in the Beit Yosef (Orach Chaim 301:15–17) establishes that a prosthetic leg that enables the person to walk is considered an extension of the body and is therefore not regarded as carrying – similar to wearing shoes or eyeglasses. By contrast, an item used only occasionally or out of convenience is classified as a masui – a load or external object – and may not be carried or pushed without an eruv. The Shulchan Aruch adds that one who cannot walk without a cane may also walk with it on Shabbat. The Kaf Hachaim (301:103) explains that if one can manage to walk indoors without a cane, it is classified as a masui and he may not use it outdoors; but if he cannot walk at all without it, even at home, the cane is like his legs and its use is therefore permitted.
Ronnie’s Crutches: When Walking Aids Become Like Part of the Body
Based on the aforementioned Beit Yosef, the Yalkut Yosef (Shabbat, vol. 2, 301:7) rules that an injured or disabled person who cannot walk without a cane or crutches may use them even outside an eruv. In such cases, the crutches are considered as if they were his legs. However, if one can walk without them, even with difficulty, their use is prohibited, as they become a masui. Thus, for Ronnie – who cannot walk at all without his crutches – halacha permits him to go to beit knesset with them, even in a place without an eruv.
Miriam’s Wheelchair: A More Complex Question
The matter is more complex for Miriam. In Yabia Omer (Orach Chaim 9:34), Hacham Ovadia Yosef, zt”l, cites authorities who permit a person to be pushed in a wheelchair, likening it to a cane, and others who forbid it, as it is comparable to pushing a baby carriage, which is forbidden without an eruv. He concludes that for the sake of a mitzvah, such as attending synagogue, one may be lenient – but only if the wheelchair is pushed by a non-Jew.
Hacham Benzion Abba Shaul(Ohr LeTzion vol. 2, ch. 23:5) permits a person to wheel themselves in the public domain, but rules that it is forbidden for another Jew to push them, as that action constitutes carrying a load on their behalf, whereas self-propulsion is similar to walking with a cane. Hacham Yitzhak Yosef in Yalkut Yosef (Shabbat, vol. 2, 301:7) concurs but adds that it is preferable that a non-Jew wheel her to synagogue. Importantly, an electric wheelchair remains prohibited, since activating or controlling its motor constitutes a melachah and is forbidden.
Practical Guidance
For Ronnie, the crutches are essential and without them he cannot walk at all, even at home. Therefore, halacha recognizes them as part of his body. He may walk with them to beit knesset, even where no eruv exists. For Miriam, the wheelchair is her sole means of mobility, and she can rely on the poskim that compare it to a cane. She may propel herself on Shabbat to attend her grandson’s bar mitzvah, but ideally, she should ask a non-Jew to assist her. However, an electric wheelchair may not be used.
Rabbi Yehuda Finchas is a worldwide expert, lecturer, and author on Medical Halacha. He heads the Torat Habayit Medical Halacha Institute. His latest book is “Brain Death in Halacha and the Tower of Babel Syndrome.” To contact Rabbi Finchas, email rabbi@torathabayit.com