Q&A: On the Labor of Carrying on the Sabbath
On the Labor of Carrying on the Sabbath
Question
Why did the labor of carrying merit having so many chapters in tractate Shabbat devoted to it more than the other labors? The decree of muktzeh, according to some opinions, was enacted to prevent carrying (the view of the Raavad), and there is also a whole separate tractate, tractate Eruvin, entirely about the laws of eruvin, which were instituted to prevent carrying into the public domain.
Answer
Some scholars argue that the labor of carrying was once the central element of the Sabbath. In essence, people would move things from place to place in order to conduct commerce, and that is what was forbidden on the Sabbath. Beyond that, the simple straightforward explanation is that it did not really “merit” this; rather, this labor simply has many details. By the way, carrying and kindling are the only two labors that appear explicitly in the Torah. “In plowing and in harvest you shall rest,” in its plain sense, refers to the Sabbath, but the Sages interpret it as referring to the Sabbatical year (beginning of Moed Katan).