16 טז

Tosafot, in their comments on the discussions in Eruvin, Haggigah and Nazir, formulate a somewhat different distinction. According to Tosafot, the distinction is between a "tent" cast through the air or water and a tent transported by humans or beasts of burden. According to Tosafot, the controversy is limited to a "tent" that itself remains stationary but is nevertheless in motion because it moves in tandem with, and secondarily to, the propelling motion of a person or an animal. Again, the controversy is whether or not an object in the process of being moved in such a fashion possesses the defining attributes of a "tent"; all agree, however, that an independently propelled object lacks the characteristics of a "tent."16 Tosafot's distinction is also reflected, inter alia, in the comments of Rashi, Gittin 8b, Tosafot Yeshanim, Shabbat 17a, Tosafot Rabbenu Perez and Ritva, Eruvin 30b, as well as those of Rosh, Me'iri, and Tosafot Rabbenu Todros, Nazir 55a. The distinction is amplified by Rabbenu Tam in his Sefer ha-Yashar, no. 275, with the explanation that the connotation of "tent" is of an object that is stationary; a bird in flight, a garment blown through the air by the wind and a floating boat are in constant (and essentially uncontrolled) motion and hence do not "rest" upon the corpse or provide it with shelter as is the nature of a tent. The controversy regarding an ohel zaruk, according to Rabbenu Tam, arises from the fact that the motion of the object can be controlled at any moment simply by stopping the person or animal carrying the object.17 Thus, according to both Rabbenu Hananel and Tosafot, there is no question that an ohel zaruk does not have the status of a "tent" while it is flying through the air.18 Moreover, Shulḥan Arukh, Oraḥ Hayyim 409:1, rules definitively that a kohen may not enter a cemetery even in an ohel zaruk. It is for that reason that a number of authorities, including R. Moshe Feinstein, Iggerot Mosheh, Yoreh De'ah, II, no. 164, and Rabbi Eliashiv, in the letter published in Yeshurun, rule unequivocally that a kohen may not fly over a cemetery.19