Shulchan Aruch: Chapter 351 - The Laws Applying to One Who Extends His Hand to a Gutter or Drainpipe in the Public Domain to Drink

SECTION 351 The Laws Applying to One Who Extends His Hand to a Gutter or Drainpipe in the Public Domain to Drink (1-2)

1 A person should not stand in a public domain and [extend] his hand or a container, joining [his hand or the container] to a gutter,1 i.e., a long [half-] pipe that runs along the length of a roof within three handbreadths of the roof, and take water from it. [The rationale is that] when [the person] joins his hand or the container to the gutter, it is as if he is drawing water from [the gutter]. Since the gutter is (lying entirely) within three handbreadths of the roof, it is considered as [an extension of] the roof itself, based on the halachic construct of lavud. [See fig. 39.] Thus, it is as if the person is drawing [water] and removing [it] from the roof, which is a private domain, [and bringing the water] into the public domain. Therefore, even if the gutter is not ten handbreadths high and four [handbreadths by four handbreadths] in area and [hence,] is not deemed a private domain in its own right, [a person] is forbidden to join his hand or a container to [the gutter. The rationale is that based on this logic], it is as if [the person] is drawing water and removing it from the roof.

It is, however, permitted to collect water from the air [below the gutter] even if one’s hands are within three [handbreadths] of the gutter. The halachic construct of lavud is not applied to [the person’s hands] (so that it would be considered as if he was drawing water from [the gutter]). Even if [the gutter] is ten handbreadths high and four handbreadths wide, and thus is deemed a private domain,2 it is permitted to collect and take the water that dripped from it from the air. The same law applies to [water] dripping from the roof itself.

[License is granted] whether one collects and takes the water [while holding his hands] more than ten [handbreadths] above [the ground] or less than ten [handbreadths above the ground. In either instance, there is no prohibition, because] the space higher than ten handbreadths [above the ground] is a makom p’tur, and less than ten handbreadths [above the ground is part of] the public domain.3

2 If a gutter juts out three handbreadths from the roof or if an ordinary pipe is long and juts out three handbreadths from the roof [see figs. 39 and 40], they are not considered as [an extension of] the roof itself, and [one] is permitted to join his hand or a container to [the gutter or the pipe] to take water, provided they are not four [handbreadths] by four [handbreadths wide] and they are less than ten [handbreadths above the ground]. For if [the gutter or pipe is] four [handbreadths by four handbreadths] in area, even if they are less than ten [handbreadths above the ground], they are, nevertheless, deemed a karmelis.4 [Thus,] when [the person] joins his hand or container to [the gutter or pipe], it is as if he is drawing water and taking it from a karmelis to the public domain.

If [the gutter or pipe] are more than ten [handbreadths above the ground], even though they are not four [handbreadths wide], it is forbidden [to draw water from them]. This is a decree [instituted] lest they be four [handbreadths wide], in which instance, [the gutter or pipe] would be a private domain in the complete sense. Even though goat kids could pass beneath them,5 [they are nevertheless placed in this category] because they jut out and extend from the roof, which is a private domain. Hence, [the gutter or pipe] are considered like apertures [in a wall] within a private domain, which are deemed a private domain, as explained in sec. 345[:8].