A very good friend of mine was hit by a car while walking home from shul Friday night. He was a half a block from home. He has been walking that route for decades. The way is well lit. He had the green light. Baruch HaShem he was only hurt badly -- leg broken in two places, smashed knee cap, two broken ribs, gash that required stitches in forehead); with rehabilitation and physical therapy he should be walking to shul again within a few months.
First obvious lesson: you must always be vigilant -- being hit by a car is rarely minor and too often tragic; the margin is way to narrow for comfort. Second lesson: you may want to consider wearing a reflective belt when walking home from shul on Friday nights. Great idea! Perhaps even a fulfillment of the positive Torah commandment to take normal care in keeping yourself healthy. By the same token, though, one certainly does not want to violate the Shabbos in the slightest just to attend a Friday night service.
This issue, of course, is what is the status of that reflect belt vis-à-vis being hung on your body. A reflective vest, naturally, is a without question a garment. A belt on a coat is, also naturally, part of the coat -- which is a garment, and can be worn as part of that garment without question. The only question is regarding those reflective belts that are worn like a sash. I don't typically wear sashes. Even when I was awarded the Bank of America award for Excellence in Science at my high school graduation, that award came with neither tiara nor sash.
As discussed in a recent TftD, focusing on why we are permitted to wear eyeglasses even into a public domain brings much clarity to the issue what what we can and cannot hang on our bodies to be worn outside on Shabbos. At first glance, it would seem that if eyeglasses have the status of a קָמִיעַ, then any sort of reflective belt should fall in the same category and you should even be able to wear them. However...
First, a reflective belt may not have the guaranteed efficacy required of any קָמִיעַ to permit its use on Shabbos. After all, it is helping you be be seen, not to actually offer any direct protection itself. Second, R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach has some strong questions on that ruling Minchas Shabbos that call the whole thing into question. Third -- and this obviates the need to delve further into those first two questions -- R' Fuerst does not rule that eyeglasses are a קָמִיעַ. So on what basis does R' Fuerst permit wearing eyeglasses outside on Shabbos? Since you wear them all day, even during the week and even in the house, they have the status of a garment. That is, just a a person who needs a cane to move about his house is allowed to use that cane outside on Shabbos; so, too, the eyeglasses. (Why not a wristwatch? In fact, R' Moshe does rule that a wristwatch is a garment. Most poskim, however, disagree; so we don't.)
Back to our reflective sash. It would seem that it is difficult to call that garment and permit wearing it outside on Shabbos. No worries, though; R' Fuerst has advice: Leave a button open on your shirt or jacket and use the sash to hold it closed. True, the issue is whether or not a reflective sash could be worn is not clear, and their may be additional leniencies depending on that status of the eruv, how רשות הרבים-y the רשות הרבים really is, etc, etc, etc. But when there is such an easy way to avoid any questions and leniencies at all with such a simple trick, why would you take chances?
Be safe -- in this world and all the more so in the next.
First obvious lesson: you must always be vigilant -- being hit by a car is rarely minor and too often tragic; the margin is way to narrow for comfort. Second lesson: you may want to consider wearing a reflective belt when walking home from shul on Friday nights. Great idea! Perhaps even a fulfillment of the positive Torah commandment to take normal care in keeping yourself healthy. By the same token, though, one certainly does not want to violate the Shabbos in the slightest just to attend a Friday night service.
This issue, of course, is what is the status of that reflect belt vis-à-vis being hung on your body. A reflective vest, naturally, is a without question a garment. A belt on a coat is, also naturally, part of the coat -- which is a garment, and can be worn as part of that garment without question. The only question is regarding those reflective belts that are worn like a sash. I don't typically wear sashes. Even when I was awarded the Bank of America award for Excellence in Science at my high school graduation, that award came with neither tiara nor sash.
As discussed in a recent TftD, focusing on why we are permitted to wear eyeglasses even into a public domain brings much clarity to the issue what what we can and cannot hang on our bodies to be worn outside on Shabbos. At first glance, it would seem that if eyeglasses have the status of a קָמִיעַ, then any sort of reflective belt should fall in the same category and you should even be able to wear them. However...
First, a reflective belt may not have the guaranteed efficacy required of any קָמִיעַ to permit its use on Shabbos. After all, it is helping you be be seen, not to actually offer any direct protection itself. Second, R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach has some strong questions on that ruling Minchas Shabbos that call the whole thing into question. Third -- and this obviates the need to delve further into those first two questions -- R' Fuerst does not rule that eyeglasses are a קָמִיעַ. So on what basis does R' Fuerst permit wearing eyeglasses outside on Shabbos? Since you wear them all day, even during the week and even in the house, they have the status of a garment. That is, just a a person who needs a cane to move about his house is allowed to use that cane outside on Shabbos; so, too, the eyeglasses. (Why not a wristwatch? In fact, R' Moshe does rule that a wristwatch is a garment. Most poskim, however, disagree; so we don't.)
Back to our reflective sash. It would seem that it is difficult to call that garment and permit wearing it outside on Shabbos. No worries, though; R' Fuerst has advice: Leave a button open on your shirt or jacket and use the sash to hold it closed. True, the issue is whether or not a reflective sash could be worn is not clear, and their may be additional leniencies depending on that status of the eruv, how רשות הרבים-y the רשות הרבים really is, etc, etc, etc. But when there is such an easy way to avoid any questions and leniencies at all with such a simple trick, why would you take chances?
Be safe -- in this world and all the more so in the next.
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