{"id":7069,"date":"2016-01-02T11:00:22","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T09:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=7069"},"modified":"2016-07-06T18:28:58","modified_gmt":"2016-07-06T15:28:58","slug":"01-02-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/01-02-11\/","title":{"rendered":"11. Sailing for the Sake of a Mitzva and Traveling on a Boat Owned by Jews"},"content":{"rendered":"
The aforementioned prohibition on setting sail within three days of Shabbat in order to avoid its desecration or the negation of the mitzva of oneg Shabbat is limited to cases where the trip is not undertaken in service of a mitzva. If, however, the trip is for the sake of a mitzva, and the boat belongs to non-Jews, then one may set sail even on Friday. Some maintain that this permission is contingent upon the owner of the boat agreeing that he will drop anchor on Shabbat; if he is unwilling to agree to this stipulation, it is forbidden to set sail. However, most authorities maintain that even if the non-Jew did not commit to drop anchor, one may still set sail with him for the sake of a mitzva.[6]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n On Shabbat itself one may not set sail, even if the boat belongs to a non-Jew and one is on a mitzva mission. The Sages forbade sailing on Shabbat out of the concern that one might come to fashion a raft (Beitza 36b; SA 339:2). If the boat is scheduled to set sail on Shabbat, one may board it before Shabbat starts and remain on it until departure time. Some are lenient, allowing one to accept Shabbat while on the boat and then return home until the departure time; one should not object if people choose to follow this practice (SA and Rema 248:3).<\/p>\n So far we have been discussing boats that belong to non-Jews. If the boat belongs to Jews who are Shabbat desecrators, there is disagreement about the proper practice. Some maintain that on the first three days of the week one may set sail in these boats, because during this time one does not have an obligation to take into account what will happen on Shabbat (Tzitz Eliezer 5:7). However, in practice one may not support Shabbat desecration, and even at the beginning of the week one may not set sail on a boat owned by Jews who desecrate Shabbat (R. Menachem Mendel Schneerson; Min\u0125at Yitz\u0125ak 3:39; Ye\u0125aveh Da\u2019at 6:16).[7]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n