Border patrol on Shabbos

Hi,

One who will need to ride in a vehicle on Shabbos for the purpose of a safety patrol may take food as needed for the trip, even if he will ride beyond the biblical techum. (On Shabbat, one may not travel more than a kilometer outside of a settled area; this boundary is called techum, and there is some debate as to whether it is biblical or rabbinic. All agree that there is a biblical prohibition against travelling beyond six kilometers.) However, where the trip is short enough to permit it, one should simply eat beforehand.

One may not bring books for reading, including for prayer or learning Torah. Even where the books are not heavy enough to increase the use of gasoline, one may not transport them beyond the aforementioned techum.

(Rav Moshe Feinstein, Igrot Moshe Orach Chaim 5:26)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Arriving by airplane on Shabbat

Hi,

Today we begin a new, summer-appropriate set of laws: Laws related to travel.

'Techum' refers to the boundary beyond which one may not travel on Shabbat. The boundary is 2000 amot, about 1 kilometer, outside of the community where one starts Shabbat.

One who travels by airplane with enough time to arrive before Shabbat, and then arrives on Shabbat only due to unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances, may disembark on Shabbat despite considerations of having passed beyond his techum, so long as he does not break any non-techum laws of Shabbat in disembarking. He may then travel up to 2000 amot in any direction, on foot, and if this brings him into a community then he may travel the entire area of that community.

(Aruch haShulchan Orach Chaim 248:14)

Have a great day,
Mordechai