Benefiting from a Violation of Shabbat

From Halachipedia

If a Jew does a melacha on Shabbat there is a rabbinic prohibition to benefit from his actions. Some of the factors as to the ramifications of that prohibition are whether it was done intentionally, whether the violation of Shabbat was Biblical, and for whom it was done. Also, if a non-Jew does a melacha there is a prohibition to benefit from his actions. That is covered on the Amirah Lenochri page.

A Non-Observant Jew

  1. If a non-observant Jew does a melacha intentionally neither him or any other Jew may benefit from his actions on Shabbat. Others may benefit from it immediately after Shabbat but he can't benefit from it forever.[1]
  2. It is permitted to benefit from an action of a non-observant Jew on Shabbat if one doesn't get a direct benefit from the melacha.[2]
    1. If a non-observant Jew turned on a light in the room one doesn't have to leave the room but one shouldn't read by that light if one couldn't read beforehand.[3]
    2. One doesn't have to leave one's house in order not to benefit from a violation of Shabbat.[4]

Sources

  1. ↑ Shulchan Aruch OC 318:1
  2. ↑ Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchata 1:37 introduction based on Shulchan Aruch OC 257:1
  3. ↑ Hilchot Sava (Rav Zecharya Ben Shlomo 5748 p. 179)
  4. ↑ Igrot Moshe OC 1:123 writes that if a Jew turned on the heat in the apartment building in violation of Shabbat one doesn't have to leave one's apartment. His reasoning is that since benefiting from a violation of Shabbat is only rabbinic and one can't avoid it it is permitted to benefit from if there's a need that would prevent a person from avoiding it (see Pesachim 26a with Rashi s.v. ein and Tosfot s.v. vtisbara). Hilchot Sava (Rav Zecharya Ben Shlomo 5748 p. 179) agrees.
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