04. Laws Pertaining to One Who Accepts Shabbat upon Himself

[5]. To complete this discussion, we must add three laws. 1) The general rule that one may transgress rabbinic prohibitions during tosefet Shabbat for a mitzva or a great need does not apply to rabbinic prohibitions whose transgression is likely to lead one to a violation of Torah law. For example, one would not be allowed to do a melakha she-eina tzerikha le-gufah or to carry objects in the public domain by moving them less than four tefaĥim at a time. This is explained in MB 342:1. 2) Although the general rule is that one who has accepted Shabbat may not transgress a rabbinic prohibition unless there is a mitzva involved or a great need, the rule does not apply to asking a non-Jew to do melakha for him. This is permitted even if it is not for a mitzva or great need, as explained in MB 261:18. 3) Technically, if one has not accepted Shabbat, the rabbinic Shabbat prohibitions do not take effect until the end of bein ha-shmashot. The body of the text does not mention this because it is almost irrelevant in practice. If one is part of a local Jewish community, he may assume that the majority of the community will accept Shabbat before shki’a, and all melakhot would then be prohibited for this person as well (except for asking a non-Jew to do melakha, which is permitted during bein ha-shmashot, as explained above). If he lives in a locale where there are no Jews, there is still a mitzva of tosefet Shabbat before shki’a, and transgressing rabbinic laws will still be prohibited except for a mitzva, for Shabbat, or for a great need, when he may be lenient, as we have learned.

A woman who has good reason to travel by car after lighting candles, such as to go to the Kotel, to shul, or to see her family, may get into a car if the driver has not accepted Shabbat yet. However, she must make sure not to open or shut the car door herself if this would make the light inside the car go on or off (see Harĥavot).