There was a Jew in China on behalf of a Kashrus organization and he was on his way to shul on Shabbos with his son. He had his son carry a siddur as the Biur Halacha שמג ד"ה מד"ס paskens that for the sake of a child one is allowed to give him an איסור דרבנן and the street he was walking on was a כרמלית [if you don't know what that means you are probably not learning daf yomi:-)] where it is only forbidden to carry מדרבנן. Then he saw it. A massive demonstration. It looked like there were 600,000 people there creating a רשות הרבים. Uh oh! Must his son stop carrying the siddur? What were they upset about?? Not our topic.
Let's learn a shtikel gemara...
Now, let the desert too be enumerated [as a reshus harabim], for it was taught: What is public ground? A high-road, a great open space, open alleys [I'm a pretty open guy] and the desert? Said Abaye, There is no difficulty: This braisa [that says that a desert is a reshus harabim] means when the Israelites dwelt in the desert; the other braisa [where the desert is not enumerated as a reshus harabim] refers to our own days. [Shabbos 6b]
Fregt the Maharal: מאי דהוי הוי??? What does it matter to us what the status of the desert was in the time when the Jews were traveling through? That was then - this is now! He answers that for us there is a practical difference: If there are 600,000 people who suddenly appear on the street it is transformed into a רשות הרבים.
That being the case in our story - he must stop carrying the siddur.
However, Rav Yosef Engel in his Gilyonei Hashas says that perhaps the 600,000 must be both קבוע and על פי השם [See Eiruvin 55b and Shabbos 31b] as it was in the desert. According to this the demonstration in China doesn't create a רשות הרבים.
[See the footnote on this gemara in the Hebrew Artscroll for other sources that discuss the Maharal's question]
עפ"י הספר חשוקי חמד
Fregt the Maharal: מאי דהוי הוי??? What does it matter to us what the status of the desert was in the time when the Jews were traveling through? That was then - this is now! He answers that for us there is a practical difference: If there are 600,000 people who suddenly appear on the street it is transformed into a רשות הרבים.
That being the case in our story - he must stop carrying the siddur.
However, Rav Yosef Engel in his Gilyonei Hashas says that perhaps the 600,000 must be both קבוע and על פי השם [See Eiruvin 55b and Shabbos 31b] as it was in the desert. According to this the demonstration in China doesn't create a רשות הרבים.
[See the footnote on this gemara in the Hebrew Artscroll for other sources that discuss the Maharal's question]
עפ"י הספר חשוקי חמד
