Siman 359

Know, that in the time of the Gemara, their buildings and courtyards were of a different form than ours, for with us the houses stand on the boundary of the public domain, and the courtyard is behind the house. But with them, the courtyard was in front of the house, for the houses were built inside the courtyard, and the place in front of the houses was called a courtyard and there was their primary use, and the place that was behind the houses was called a rachavah, and this is like a karpef. And sometimes the granary separated between the house and the rachavah, and there they would use it to place wood and merchandise. And sometimes it was much larger than two se'ah, and we require for it "opening and afterwards enclosing" as with a karpef. And it appears that a karpef was far from the courtyard, and a rachavah was adjacent to the courtyard, as Rashi wrote in Eruvin (7a, s.v. "u-mesayem") and this is his wording: "Rachavah — the enclosure of the courtyard that is behind the houses is called a rachavah, surrounded by four partitions." Thus far his words. And with this we will understand the words of the Tur and the Shulchan Aruch as we will explain with the help of Heaven.

This is the wording of the Tur and the Shulchan Aruch: "An open area behind the houses, larger than a beit satayim and not enclosed for a dwelling — one may only carry within it four amot. But if one opened an entrance to it from his house and afterwards enclosed it, even if there is a threshing floor between it and the house — it is considered an enclosure for a dwelling." Thus far their words. And we do not say that this entrance is open for the purpose of the threshing floor and not for the sake of the open area, and that there is no entrance to the open area here; rather, we consider it properly an entrance to the open area. (Tur) But when it is a beit satayim, and certainly less — it does not have the law of a karpef, and it is permitted to carry from it to the house. (Magen Avraham and Beit Yosef in siman 358) And the reason seems to me to be that a karpef which is very far from the house, and has no proximity to the house — they are like two domains, and one may not carry from one to the other. But an open area that is adjacent to the house, when it is not larger than a beit satayim — it is like a courtyard, if one opened and afterwards enclosed. And do not wonder, for however you look at it, if the courtyard was opened and afterwards enclosed, the open area is also so, and in what way is the open area different from the courtyard? For the matter is thus: previously they would set aside a courtyard and build a house inside the courtyard, and afterwards they would fence the courtyard, and afterwards they saw fit to set aside a place behind the houses for an open area. It turns out that regarding the courtyard — it is "opened and afterwards enclosed," for the primary building was after they set aside the courtyard. But the open area — they did not set aside at the time of building, and afterwards when they set aside a place for an open area, it has no building that permits it, because the house was not opened for its sake. Therefore they must afterwards open an entrance from the house for the sake of the open area, meaning towards the side of the open area, and afterwards fence it, and it is "opened and afterwards enclosed." And this is what our teacher, the Rema, wrote, and this is his wording: "And as for the fact that we are not careful regarding carrying in courtyards behind the houses, it is because in this time their default status is enclosed for a dwelling, as I wrote above regarding a karpef." Thus far his words. And this was necessary according to his time, but according to the custom of our time — they do not have the law of an open area or a karpef at all, and they are all courtyards, for all our courtyards are behind the houses. (Only in a karpef made by itself behind the city and the like, in a place by itself inside the city — they have the law of a karpef. But everything adjacent to the houses — they all have the law of a courtyard, but in the villages one must examine the manner of their dwelling).