(By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times)

You are a post seminary girl working in Camp Sternberg. You have a date Motzei Shabbos and you hold the position known as a DH (Division Head). You do not want your campers to see that you are on a date. You decide, on Friday, to order a female cab driver to arrive five minutes after Shabbos is over in order to drive you to the meeting site.

PERMITTED OR FORBIDDEN?

Before last week, most Rabbis would have told you that it was forbidden. This is because a gentile is doing malacha for you on a Shabbos. It is forbidden to benefit from such an action.

Now, however, it seems that the matter is a debate among Poskim. The underlying issue is called, “Bichdai She’yaasu” the Rabbis forbade benefitting from something that a gentile had done for you – until the amount of time it would have taken for the gentile to perform it – after Shabbos is over has elapsed. All this is discussed in Shulchan Aruch (Orech Chaim 307:20) and is based upon a Gemorah in Shabbos (18b).

The closest taxi station to Camp Sternberg in Narrowsburg, New ork is Liberty, New York. This is a distance of about 32 minutes away. The DH post-sem girl must not order that taxi – until at least 32 minutes after Shabbos is over.

So, what happened?

THE NEW DEBATE

Two Shabbosim ago, Rav Yitzchok Rubin, a leading Posaik from Eretz Yisroel, gave a shiur in the Agudah of Long Island and touched upon this very issue, disagreeing with a ruling of Dayan Yitzchok Weiss zatzal the Raavad of the Eidah Chareidis (1979-1989). Rav Rubin argued that in such a case the gentile is not travelling to the Jewish person’s location for the Jew. He argued that the cab driver is doing it for himself to make a living.

According to Rav Rubin, the young lady would be able to arrange for the taxi to arrive immediately after Shabbos, and even to be waiting for her on Shabbos – since he is doing it to earn his own income.

Rabbi Rubin is the author of the three volume Orchos Shabbos and Av Beis Din of Rav Nissim Karelitz’s Beis Din. He is also the Rav of the shul in Har Nof where a deadly terror attack occurred in 2014.

Leading Poskim in the United States, however, disagreed with Rav Rubin’s analysis and agreed with Dayan Weiss’s original responsum – which did not deal with Camp Sternberg, but rather dealt with whether one can ask a gentile driver to pick up a person in Meron – a geographically isolated area with no gentile cab drivers.

Below is the original responsum of Rabbi Yitzchok Yaakov Weiss, zatzal, discussed by Rabbi Rubin in his Shiur at the Agudah of Long Island. It is found in Minchas Yitzchok Volume VI #25 to Rabbi Tzvi Moskovitz, editor of the prestigious Torah journal, “Otzros Yerushalayim.” The question deals with people who have spent the holy Shabbos in the city of Meron, where Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai resided.

Question: In a location where there are no taxi services in the local area, is it permitted to order a non-Jewish taxi on Friday to be ready immediately for travel on Saturday night?

THE RULING­ CANNOT BE DONE

After I have reviewed all the issues, I have only found grounds to permit ordering a taxi after ample time has passed for the taxi to have arrived from its place of origin.

A FURTHER LIMITATION

Indeed, it would still not be permitted if one were to say to him, “From my perspective, you can arrive at the agreed upon time. If, however, you wish to arrive earlier on Saturday night, I would travel at the time you arrive as well.”

THE ATTEMPTED RATIONALE- DIDN’T SAY IT DIRECTLY

This rationale for this [invalid approach] is based upon the law (Orech Chaim 307:4) that it is permitted to give a gentile money on Friday to purchase an item for him, provided he does not tell him to purchase it on the Sabbath.

EXPLORING THE ATTEMPTED RATIONALE

The Taz (loco citato) adds that if the Jew tells him, “Be aware that I am also leaving on Saturday night” – it is tantamount to telling the gentile to purchase it on Shabbos.

If this is so, then if one ordered a taxi to travel immediately after Shabbos, and it is impossible for the gentile to arrive there unless he travelled on Shabbos, for he would certainly not come there on Friday and wait there the entire Shabbos without compensation, this is tantamount to explicitly mentioning that it be performed on Shabbos, as we have mentioned.

However, if he says to him, “From my perspective, you can arrive [much] after Shabbos.. etc.”, then it would not be considered tantamount to explicitly mentioning to him [that it be performed on] the Shabbos.

REFUTING THE ATTEMPTED RATIONALE

Nonetheless, there is still the issue of what the Taz further discussed there, that even in a situation where the Rabbis did permit it, i.e., if he did not tell him to purchase it on Shabbos, the Jew should nonetheless not benefit from it on that Shabbos, for the fact is that it was done for the Jew.

THE ELIYAHU RABBA & TOSEFES SHABBOS’ OPINION

It would still be problematic even according to the Eliyahu Rabbah and the Tosefes Shabbos who disagree with this point, and write that it is comparable to the law (252:4) of an article of clothing. The law there states that as long as a price was agreed upon, even though the gentile performed the work on the Shabbos, it is permitted for the Jew to wear the article of clothing even on the Shabbos itself. For whenever a price is agreed upon the gentile performs the action for his own purposes.

THE MOGEN AVROHOM­ WHY THE GOY IS DOING IT

The reason that it is problematic even according to the Eliyahu Rabbah and the Tosefes Shabbos is because the Magen Avrohom (regarding clothing manufactured on Shabbos) states that it is not comparable to a lamp that a gentile lit for the needs of a Jew. For in that case the gentile lights with the intent that the Jew will utilize it there immediately on Shabbos, but here the gentile is only doing it to complete his work, and not so that the Jew utilize it now.

[Hence, in our case too, the Magen Avraham’s reasoning would apply since the gentile is doing it for the Jew’s immediate utilization, see below]

THE SECOND ATTEMPTED RATIONALE

Even according to the Ramah who writes, “There are those who prohibit wearing the garment if he knows that the gentile completed it on [that] Shabbos and he must wait after Shabbos the amount of time it would have taken to complete the task. And this is the practice, ideally, unless he absolutely needs it on Shabbos, then one may be lenient.”

In this (307) where it is a matter of business transactions, since these are only prohibited Rabbinically, it is possible that even according to this opinion it would be permitted.

REFUTING THE LAST ATTEMPT

However, all this is inapplicable in our case, because the gentile has in mind that the Jew will travel with him immediately, and he (the gentile) is performing many Biblical Sabbath prohibitions in his travelling. Even though, the intent is for him to travel with him on Saturday night, since it is impossible for the him to travel immediately on Saturday Night unless the gentile travelled there on Shabbos, the work done on Shabbos is done so that the Jew may utilize it immediately, and it is prohibited for the duration of bichdei sheyaasu, the amount of time that it would take to travel from the point of origin.

FURTHER THOUGHTS

Initially, I had thought that perhaps when he calls a cab from a gentile firm, and the driver is merely an employee of the firm it could be argued to permit it based upon the words of the Pri Magadim (277 Mishbetzes HaZahav end of the Siman), regarding a gentile who lit a lamp for his [gentile] friend, and the friend actually intended for his friend who was Jewish. One may be lenient in such a case, see Chavos Yair #53 page 25b who discusses the notion of Amira LeAmira, telling a gentile to tell a gentile. Here, however, everyone agrees that it is not a problem because he does not appear to be a “messenger” of the Jew.

We find similarly in the Pri Magadim (Yore Deah Sifsei Daas 103:14) where he explains the position of the Maharam Lublin (Responsum #104) who permitted one who purchases cheeses from a gentile nobleman [to benefit from work done by gentiles], even though the employees are doing it for the needs of a Jew. Since they are doing it for the nobleman it is permitted. See further the responsum of the Maharsham (Volume II #246).

ATTEMPTED RATIONALE AGAIN

If so, the same would apply here in our case, the driver is just doing it to fulfill the will of his gentile boss, and see further the responsum of the Maharam Schick (Orech Chaim 123).

REFUTATION

Nevertheless, the Machazeh Avrohom (responsum Orech Chaim 43) correctly argues that the Pri Magadim only discussed a case where the gentile performing the act (i.e. the 2nd gentile) was, in fact, unaware that the work is being performed for a Jew. In regard to that case when the gentile who instructs the second gentile intends that the work be done for the Jew, the Jew, nonetheless, did not instruct him to do it, and the gentile who performs the action is unaware that it is for a Jew. It would thus be permitted in that case according to everyone.

But in a situation where the gentile performing the act is aware that the act is for the needs of a Jew, even if the Jew did not tell him anything at all, it is prohibited for the Jew to derive any benefit until ample time has passed after Shabbos for the taxi to have arrived from its place of origin. For the sages have ruled that the work of a gentile performed on behalf of a Jew, even if the Jew did not tell him anything at all, is prohibited. If so, in our case, the driver certainly was aware that he is travelling to Meron on behalf of a Jew, it is thus prohibited for the Jew to benefit from this until ample time has passed. This is how it appears to my humble opinion.

CONCLUSION

So, practically, what should the post seminary Division Head do in regard to her date? Someone pointed out that the issue is strictly theoretical. How so? No post seminary girl would go out on a date on Motzei Shabbos without having previously done her hair and makeup. This clearly takes up more than the 32 minutes under discussion, and thus, the issue in regard to Camp Sternberg is moot.

The issue does have repercussions in other locations, however, such as a flight scheduled for Saturday night. May one ask a taxi to arrive a moment after Shabbos has ended? Each person should ask his or her own Posaik or Rav.

The author can be reached at [email protected]

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