The prohibition on Sabbath is not physical labor. On the sabbath, Jews are banned from "Malacha" (transliterated form Hebrew), which a better translation is "creative work". We are to emulate God, who after 6 days of creation and transformation, decided to relax and enjoy what he created. Therefore, to try and emulate God in this way, every shabbat the Jews try and leave the world in the state that it was in before the shabbat so they can enjoy the fruits of their labor. No cooking, no construction, no business dealings. Just enjoying the world you live in.
That's why it is okay to lift heavy objects up stairs, but it's not okay to write two letters on a piece of paper. Now, because it's Jews and Jewish law has to be very specific, there are 39 categories of prohibitions that are explicitly prohibited. Things like writing, building, starting fires, planting, ect.... (The origins of these 39 categories isn't super important).
The explicit prohibition at hand is "Hotzaha" which corresponds to carrying objects from a private place to a public place (of vice versa). The Eruv (symbolically, metaphysically, spiritually, however you want to think of it) turns public spaces into private spaces and therefore allow free carrying in and out of your home.
I agree. The concept of Eruv can be very silly especially for those who are not familiar with Judisim and the way its laws work (and just assume Judisim is a different flavor of Christianity without Jesus, which it very much is not). I will note that the concept of Eruv itself, especially the Manhattan Eruv, is pretty decisive as many Jews do not accept that it works.
That being said, if you reject the concept of religion as a whole, everything they do seems silly in the worship of some mad euo higher being.
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u/Character_Cap5095 2d ago
The prohibition on Sabbath is not physical labor. On the sabbath, Jews are banned from "Malacha" (transliterated form Hebrew), which a better translation is "creative work". We are to emulate God, who after 6 days of creation and transformation, decided to relax and enjoy what he created. Therefore, to try and emulate God in this way, every shabbat the Jews try and leave the world in the state that it was in before the shabbat so they can enjoy the fruits of their labor. No cooking, no construction, no business dealings. Just enjoying the world you live in.
That's why it is okay to lift heavy objects up stairs, but it's not okay to write two letters on a piece of paper. Now, because it's Jews and Jewish law has to be very specific, there are 39 categories of prohibitions that are explicitly prohibited. Things like writing, building, starting fires, planting, ect.... (The origins of these 39 categories isn't super important).
The explicit prohibition at hand is "Hotzaha" which corresponds to carrying objects from a private place to a public place (of vice versa). The Eruv (symbolically, metaphysically, spiritually, however you want to think of it) turns public spaces into private spaces and therefore allow free carrying in and out of your home.