Thank you for the wonderful information on this site.
A question: would it be ok to tie a lechi to a tree thus using the tree to support the lechi but not using the tree itself as a lechi?
Thanks,
Binyamin, Australia
Dear Binyamin,
My question to you is: if you have a tree, why do you need a Lechi? Even a human can be used as a Lechi. Assuming the tree is within three Tefachim of the wall of the Chatzer and is ten Tefachim high it should be a perfectly good Lechi(Shulchan Aruch, OC 363:3,6) Maybe you would want to put a sign on the tree saying "this is a Lechi" so that no one thinks you are carrying without a Lechi, but that is not required by Halachah.
Kol Tuv,
Yonasan Sigler
This is not a Psak Halachah
Do we need to clarify if we're talking about the opening of a Chatzer or of a Movuy here?
NB We generally make Tzuras HaPesach to close off a "Chatzer", where using a tree may be more complicated (the wire or whatever used as a "lintel" must go directly over the sidepost).
Meir Eliezer Bergman
Manchester UK
Reb Yonasan,
I think the questioner was referring to the more common scenario of "lechis" being used to create a "tzuras hapesach" in community eruv.
These community eruvin encompass vast areas, and generally don't have any earby walls. As a result, many times "lechis" are attached to vast numbers of trees, which in turn serve to support the string for the "tzuras hapesach".
The questioner was asking if this practice was acceptable.
All the best,
Chaim Mendelson
Dear Binyamin,
Sorry for the terribly long delay in replying to you.
To my knowledge there is no reason why a tree couldn't be used as one of the Mezuzos of a Tzuras ha'Pesach. We hold that a Lechi ha'Omed me'Elav is Kosher, so the fact that the tree was not planted with the intention of using it to construct the Eruv should not be a problem.
The issue is whether the Mashkof (the string used above) has to be directly over the central trunk of the tree or could it be above a branch going off to the side?
I asked Rav Moshe Sternbuch these questions. He said that a tree could be used for the Tzuras haPesach but that the string had to be directly over the central trunk.
Kesivah va'Chasimah Tovah,
Yonasan Sigler