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A non-Jew is forbidden from observing Shabbos. When someone is in the process of converting, we advise them to keep the entire Shabbos besides for doing one forbidden activity. A common practice is to carry something in their pocket (if there is no eiruv). However, according to some carrying is generally only breaking Shabbos on a Rabbinic level since most city streets have only the status of a karmalis (rabbinic public domain), not a reshus harabim (biblical public domain). Is it sufficient to break Shabbos on a Rabbinic level to avert the problem of a gentile keeping Shabbos? Woudn't it be better to tell them to switch on an incandescent light bulb in their room, or some other action which is simple to do and violates Shabbos on a biblical level according to everyone?

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Michoel
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    This is a good question (and +1), but there are bits of it that need to be fixed up or changed. The karmelit is not a rabbinic public domain, but a rabbinic sub-division of the maqom patur. It includes, according to most authorities, places like deserts and oceans: open places that are not usually frequented by people (although note the Rambam, who defines these as reshuyot harabbim). Open places in our cities, such as marketplaces and roads, are still reshuyot harabbim according to the rabbis. – Shimon bM Sep 10 '12 at 06:33
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    Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer has a very good summary of the different domains in his The Contemporary Eruv: Eruvin in Modern Metropolitan Areas (2nd ed; Jerusalem: Feldheim, 1998), §1. – Shimon bM Sep 10 '12 at 06:34
  • @ShimonbM That unclarity is my fault as I edited in that phrase. You are right that a karmelit is a makom petur mideoraita, but the status that the rabannan gave it is parallel to that of a reshut harabbim: one cannot carry four amot in it, nor can one carry from it to another reshut. That is what I meant by 'rabbinic public domain'. – Double AA Sep 10 '12 at 06:55
  • I've cleaned up comments relating to a side point in an old version of the question. Consider asking a new question for more discussion. – Double AA Sep 10 '12 at 18:11
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    is it d'oraita that a non-Jew cannot keep shabbos or is that d'rabbanan? – Charles Koppelman Sep 10 '12 at 19:44
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    @CharlesKoppelman d'rabanan don't give out מיתה. – JNF Oct 01 '12 at 21:51
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    I rem hearing a good story but don't rem all the details. I think it involved a ger who asked if one can light a match but he said that is a melacha sheina tricha l'gufa because he is only doing it for shabbas,so I think they asked Rav Pam and he said he can be machmir like the shittah that would make him liable. Not so sure on all details if someone ever heard it please correct my mistakes if I am mistaken. – sam Jan 23 '13 at 03:24
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    @sam http://judaism.stackexchange.com/posts/comments/22814 – msh210 Aug 26 '13 at 00:45
  • Sorry for being stupid, but can someone point me towards an explanation of why turning on an incandescent bulb is definitely a Biblical prohibition? AFAIK there were no incandescent bulbs in the Beis Hamikdash... – SAH Aug 20 '14 at 13:56
  • I heard that shabbos for a goy is Saturday and moitzoei shabbos, not Friday night and Saturday day. I don't have a source, and I'm not sure if it's according to everyone. – user613 Sep 15 '14 at 08:12
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    @SAH An action does not have to resemble exactly what was performed for the mishkan in order to be a biblical m'lacha; it can be a biblical tolda so long as the result of the act is conceptually similar to the av that was performed for the mishkan (see מגיד משנה on Hil. Shabbos 7:4, though there are other views on the precise distinction). (If you want to ask about this question in detail, I'm not aware that any duplicate exists yet on MY, though this question is sort of related). – Fred Dec 20 '15 at 22:32
  • @SAH About the nature of the prohibition behind incandescent bulbs specifically, see this article. (Also related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/27002 and http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/12572). – Fred Dec 20 '15 at 22:34
  • R' Asher Lemel of Gallen (Binyan Tziyon 91) advised a convert who hadn't yet immersed to rabbinically violate Shabbos by writing some characters ("כתב איזה אותיות... ובדרבנן עבדינן עובדא"; perhaps there were a number of questionable factors to the writing, e.g. cursive script, unintelligible letter sequence or isolated letters, letters upon other letters, letters without tagin, etc., and that's why R' AL considered it merely rabbinic). R' AL advised this on the premise that the would-be convert was still completely non-Jewish. – Fred Dec 21 '15 at 08:05

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Resting for a Goy is our human intuitive definition for rest (as I understand from this source), not keeping Halachic Shabbat. I guess it would depend on that, not exactly on דרבנן vs. דאורייתא.

JNF
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    According to the Binyon Tzion cited in your source, carrying a key would certainly not be considered enough even in a reshus harabim. The question is whether we follow his ruling l'maaseh - lehakel or lehachmir.. – Michoel Oct 02 '12 at 12:16
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    R' Herschel Shachter said in a lecture (which is probably on YU Torah somewhere, but I can't recall which lecture it was) that a non-Jew is not permitted to rest on Shabbat even as Jews rest on Chol Hamoed. So seemingly the non-Jew must do something purposeless, as turning on a light he needs or carrying a key he needs are permitted on Chol Hamoed. – Ze'ev misses Monica May 08 '13 at 14:05
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The prohibition of a non-Jew from observing Shabbos is rabbinic so it is sufficient for the non-Jew to observe this on a rabbinic level.

user2698
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    I don't understand your statement. What do you mean by 'sufficient'? Also, if you can source this that would greatly improve its value. – Double AA Apr 22 '13 at 17:09
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    I thought the reason why non jews cant keep shabbos is because its stealing from the jews since God gave Shabbos to the jews (Gemara Sanhedrin) and stealing is a Noahide law which is Torah law, not rabbinic. – shlomo Apr 24 '13 at 01:29