If a caravan encamps in an open field, one cannot carry inside the caravan's area on Shabbat. Since this area lacks partitions, the Sages gave it the status of “karmelit”, which is neither private nor public, but still one cannot carry there. Therefore, they may decide to make a fence around the caravan. Then the following rules apply.
If they surrounded their encampment with saddles, saddlebags, and the like, then they can carry there – provided that the height of the partition is at least ten hand-breadths, that the gaps between the saddles are not larger than the total length of their fence. In addition, each individual gap should not be larger than ten amot (about 20 feet), since such a gap is considered a door. More than this is considered an opening, and then one cannot carry there.
What if the length of the gaps is exactly equal to the total length of the closed fence? Is such partition valid or not? The Talmud spends a page trying to find a proof. In the end, since the verbiage of our ruling above is most easily understood if we assume that gaps equal to fence are valid, this become the law.
Art: Edwin Lord Weeks - Arrival Of A Caravan
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