Wearing Extra Clothes or Accessories Outdoors on Shabbos

Weekly Halacha Discussion
By Rabbi Doniel Neustadt

A weekly discussion of Halachic topics. For final rulings, consult your Rav.

Wearing Extra Clothes or Accessories Outdoors on Shabbos (1 of 2)

Question: Is it permitted to wear a jacket over the shoulders (with the sleeves hanging free) in an area where it is forbidden to carry on Shabbos?

Discussion: There are two reasons why it may be forbidden to wear a jacket in this manner:

1. It may not be considered “wearing” at all, but rather “carrying,” since the normal way to “wear” a jacket is to put one’s arms into the sleeves.
2. The jacket may slip off one’s shoulders, and one may inadvertently pick it up and carry it a distance of four amos.

Some poskim dismiss both concerns and permit wearing a jacket in this manner. Rav M. Feinstein is cited by some as forbidding it, but by others as permitting it. Other poskim permit it but recommend not doing so in a full-fledged public domain (reshus harabim min HaTorah).

Question: In a place where it is forbidden to carry on Shabbos, is it permitted to wear a garment that has extra (spare) buttons sewn onto it?

Discussion: Although this issue is widely debated, many poskim permit it, while only a minority opinion is stringent. Among the reasons for the lenient ruling: 1) The buttons are insignificant and considered subordinate to the garment. 2) Garments are normally manufactured with extra buttons sewn onto them. 3) The buttons, being sewn into the garment, are considered an extension of the garment.

Question: In a place where it is forbidden to carry on Shabbos, is it permitted to wear a garment with a price tag or a cleaning tag attached to it?

Discussion: If the owner of the garment is not planning to remove the tag from the garment, it is definitely permitted to wear the garment. This is because the tag is of no consequence to the wearer and thus becomes subordinate to the garment. If, however, the owner of the garment plans to remove the tag, some poskim rule that the garment may not be worn. According to them, the tag cannot be considered insignificant since the person, indeed, cares to remove it. Other poskim, however, permit the garment to be worn with the tag attached. They say that, for an item to be significant – for it to remain independent of the garment – it must have its own intrinsic value. However, even according to the more lenient opinion, such tags should lechatchilah be removed before Shabbos.

Question: In a place where it is forbidden to carry on Shabbos, is it permitted wear boots with plastic bags inside them?

Discussion: If the plastic bags are intended to add warmth or to protect the foot from dampness, then it is permitted. But if the bags are intended to help the boots slip on and off more easily, then the bags are not considered to be a garment and wearing them would be considered as carrying them, which is forbidden.

Question: In a place where it is forbidden to carry on Shabbos, is it permitted to wear a fitted plastic cover to protect a hat from the rain?

Discussion: Some poskim maintain that it is permitted, since the snuggly-fitting plastic cover is considered an extension of the hat. This is deemed to be derech malbush, since it is quite ordinary for a hat to be protected from the rain by covering it with a fitted plastic cover.