{"id":7806,"date":"2016-01-25T01:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-01-24T23:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=7806"},"modified":"2016-07-28T17:42:08","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T14:42:08","slug":"01-25-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/01-25-01\/","title":{"rendered":"01. Asking a Non-Jew to Do Melakha<\/em> on Shabbat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shabbat belongs to Jews alone, as the Torah states: \u201cFor it is a sign between Me and you throughout the ages, that you may know that I the Lord have consecrated you\u201d (Shemot 31:13). In addition, the Sages go so far as to say that \u201cA non-Jew who observes Shabbat is liable for the death penalty\u201d (San<\/em>. 58b). In other words, if a non-Jew were to invent his own religion and establish a \u201cShabbat\u201d for himself, during which he would refrain from engaging in melakha<\/em> and in developing the world, he would be liable for death at the hands of heaven (see Rashi ad loc.<\/em> and MT, Laws of Kings 10:9).<\/p>\n

Although a non-Jew may do melakha<\/em> on Shabbat, the Sages forbade a Jew to ask a non-Jew to do melakha<\/em> for him on Shabbat. This includes even rabbinically prohibited activities. The Sages found support for this from the wording of the verse: \u201cNo melakha<\/em> shall be done on them\u201d (Shemot 12:16). The verse does not use the active \u201cDo not do melakha<\/em>,\u201d but rather the passive \u201cNo melakha <\/em>shall be done.\u201d Thus we see that it is proper that no melakha<\/em> is done for a Jew on Shabbat or Yom Tov. As the Midrash elaborates: \u201c\u2018No melakha <\/em>shall be done\u2019 \u2013 neither by you, nor by your friend, nor by a non-Jew\u201d (Mekhilta<\/em> ad loc.<\/em>).[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

If the melakha <\/em>will be done with a Jew\u2019s property, one may not ask a non-Jew to do a melakha<\/em> even for the non-Jew\u2019s benefit. For example, one may not tell a visiting non-Jew: \u201cTurn on the light for yourself.\u201d Similarly, one may not say to a non-Jew: \u201cCook my food for yourself.\u201d However, if the meat belongs to the non-Jew, one may tell him to cook it for himself. Since the non-Jew is performing the melakha<\/em> with his own possessions for his own benefit, the Sages did not forbid such speech (SA 307:21; MB ad loc. <\/em>73).<\/p>\n

The Sages decreed that a Jew may not benefit from a melakha<\/em> performed by a non-Jew for the Jew\u2019s benefit. For example, if the lights in one\u2019s home went out, and a non-Jewish neighbor came and turned the lights on, neither the Jews living in that home nor any other Jews may benefit from these lights, since they were turned on for a Jew on Shabbat (SA 276:1). If the melakha<\/em> undertaken by the non-Jew is time-consuming, a Jew may not benefit from it immediately after Shabbat either. Rather, he must wait until enough time has passed so that the melakha<\/em> could have been done after Shabbat. For example, if a non-Jew picked fruit or fished for a Jew on Shabbat, the fruit or fish may not be eaten after Shabbat until enough time has passed that they could have been picked or caught then (SA 325:5-6).[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

If the melakha<\/em> performed by the non-Jew for the Jew is only prohibited rabbinically, then only the Jew for whom the melakha<\/em> was performed may not benefit from it on Shabbat. Other Jews may benefit from the melakha <\/em>even on Shabbat. Once Shabbat is over and enough time has passed so that the melakha<\/em> could have been done after Shabbat, even the Jew for whom the melakha <\/em>was performed may benefit from it (SA 325:8; MB ad loc.<\/em> 41).<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a>. Smag<\/em>, Lo Ta\u2019aseh<\/em> \u00a775, indicates that this Mekhilta<\/em> means that the prohibition of asking a non-Jew to do melakha<\/em> is a Torah law. Beit Yosef<\/em> \u00a7244 quotes this. However, the overwhelming majority of poskim<\/em> maintain that the prohibition is rabbinic, and the verse is not the law\u2019s source but merely a support for it. This is stated by Rambam (MT 6:1); Ramban, Shemot 12:16; SAH 243:1; and SHT 243:7. There are two reasons presented for this prohibition. Rashi (Shabbat <\/em>153a) writes that if one requests that a non-Jew perform melakha<\/em> for him, it is as if the non-Jew is acting as the Jew\u2019s proxy. Alternatively, Rambam suggests that if one asks a non-Jew to do melakha<\/em> for him, he will take Shabbat less seriously and thus may come to do melakha<\/em> himself (MT 6:1). Either way, the rabbinic prohibition is an extension of the Torah\u2019s command that servants rest on Shabbat, as explained above in 9:10.One may not even ask a non-Jew on Shabbat to do melakha<\/em> for a Jew after Shabbat (MB 307:9) or ask him before Shabbat to do melakha<\/em> for a Jew on Shabbat. However, one may hint to a non-Jew to do melakha<\/em> in the future. For example, one may say: \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you turn off the extra light in my house last Shabbat?\u201d The non-Jew will realize that the Jew would like him to turn out the light the next Shabbat (SA 307:2).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>. The prohibition on benefiting from melakha<\/em> done by a non-Jew on Shabbat is explained in Shabbat<\/em> 122a, while the need to wait after Shabbat is explained in Beitza<\/em> 24b. According to Rashi and Ran, the reason for the first prohibition is so that one will not benefit from melakha <\/em>done on Shabbat; while according to Tosafot<\/em> and Ramban, it is so that a Jew will not desecrate Shabbat by asking a non-Jew to do melakha<\/em> for him (MB 325:29). If the melakha<\/em> is undertaken publicly so that everyone knows that it was done for a particular Jew, that Jew may never benefit from it (SA 325:14; MB ad loc.<\/em> 73).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shabbat belongs to Jews alone, as the Torah states: \u201cFor it is a sign between Me and you throughout the ages, that you may know that I the Lord have consecrated you\u201d (Shemot 31:13). In addition, the Sages go so far as to say that \u201cA non-Jew who observes Shabbat is liable for the death […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-25"],"yoast_head":"\n01. 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