Amirah LeNochri: Difference between revisions

# It’s permissible to tell a non-Jew “I don’t have enough (ripped) toilet paper”. <Ref>Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 30:8 </ref>

# It’s permissible to tell a non-Jew “I can’t read the letter” to hint to open the [[mail]]. <Ref>Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 30:10 </ref>

===If the non-Jew asks===

# If one hints to a non-Jew to do a certain action and the non-Jew asks in reply “do you want me to me such and such?”, one may not respond “Yes” because doing so is considered like a command, but rather one should answer “I would appreciate it such an action was done”. <Ref>39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat; vol 1, pg 70-1) </ref>

# Before [[Shabbat]] it’s permissible to tell a non-Jew “Why didn’t you open the [[mail]] last [[Shabbat]]?” (before [[Shabbat]] using a hint with a command for work). <ref>Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 30:10 </ref>

==For a Sick Person==

# It’s permissible to ask a non-Jew to perform any Melacha, even one which is forbidden Deoritta (biblically), for a ill person (someone in the hospital, someone confined to a bed, someone who has a flu, severe toothache, severe earache, or migraine headaches).<ref>The Gemara [[Shabbat]] 129a states that it is permitted to ask a non-Jew to do melacha, even if it is deoritta, for a sick person. S"A 328:17 and Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 30:11 codify this as halacha. The 39 Melachos (vol. 1, p. 73-4) gives a few a examples for above halacha: hospital patient, someone confined to bed out of illness, someone with the flu, severe toothache, severe earache, and a migraine.</ref>

# In places where there is a heat wave one may ask a non-Jew to turn on a fan or air conditioning for someone who is suffering from the extreme weather. <Ref>Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 30:11, Sh"t Minchat Yitzchak 3:23-4, http://www.dailyhalacha.com/Display.asp?ClipID=591 </ref>

==Asking a non-Jew to do a Derabbanan==

# In general it’s forbidden to ask a non-Jew to a Derabbanan prohibition, however, if it’s for a sick person, great need, big loss, a mitzvah, or guests that weren’t expected. <Ref>Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 30:14 </ref>

# If one’s scheduled garbage pickup is on [[Shabbat]], one may allow the sanitation department to pickup one’s garbage on [[Shabbat]]. <ref> Rav Mordechai Willig (Am Mordechai p. 214) writes that since the garbage collectors work for the city, one may let non-Jewish garbage collectors pick up his garbage on [[Shabbat]]. The Sanctity of [[Shabbos]] (p. 84) adds that there’s no issue of marit ayin because it is well-known that the Jewish homeowner didn’t arrange for the garbage to be picked up on [[Shabbat]]. </ref>

# If a Jew has a non-Jewish worker who produces a product or provides a service and is paid a fixed wage for the job and not paid per hour, it's permissible to allow the non-Jewish worker to work on [[Shabbat]]. For example, it’s permissible on the weekday to give a non-Jew clothing to mend, or a car to fix since there was no command to the non-Jew to work on [[Shabbat]], it’s done in private, it's not recognizable as a Jew’s, and there’s a fixed wage. <Ref> 39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat; vol 1, pg 77-9) </ref>

# However one shouldn’t give it in on Friday afternoon and is pick it up Saturday night if there’s no time for the goy to fix it before or after [[Shabbat]] because it's tantamount to telling the non-Jew to work on [[Shabbat]]. However if there’s a need, Sephardim are lenient and Ashkenazim are strict. <Ref> Mekor Chaim 3:35:4, [[Shabbat]] VeHilchoteha 21:4-5, Mekor HaMayim O”C 4:26; Rav Ovadyah in Sh”t Yechave Daat 3:17 is lenient and Sh”t Divrei Chachamim 17 in name of Rav Eliyashiv and Rav Sheinberg are strict. 39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat; vol 1, pg 79) and Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 20:28 rule strictly. </ref>

* For more information, see [http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/789052/Rabbi_Daniel_Stein/Reading_the_Shabbat_Newspaper_&_Subscribing_to_the_Saturday_Times Rabbi Daniel Stein in a shiur on yutorah.org]. </ref>

# It’s forbidden before [[Shabbat]] to pay a non-Jew to do work for a Jew if because of the lack of time the non-Jew will have to work on [[Shabbat]] for the Jew. <Ref>Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 30:28 </ref>

# It’s forbidden to hire an electrician to fix something in the house on [[Shabbat]], because the work is being done in a Jew’s house. <Ref>Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 30:30 </ref>

# One may not have a non-Jew build on a Jew's field or harvest a Jew's field on [[Shabbat]] since doing work on anything which is attached to the ground clearly belongs to the Jewish owner. <Ref> S”A 244:1, Mishna Brurah 244:5 </ref>

# A non-Jewish day-worker may not do any melacha on [[Shabbat]] on a Jew’s behalf. <Ref> The Mishnah ([[Shabbat]] 17b) writes that Beit Hillel permitted leaving clothes at a non-Jewish cleaner before [[Shabbat]]. Tosfot 19a s.v. Ela adds that it is permitted only if one stipulated a price with the non-Jew. The Rashba ([[Shabbat]] 19a s.v. Ha) explains that if a price is fixed, the non-Jewish worker is considered a contractor, hired for a specific job. If the non-Jew is a contractor, he is working at his own convenience, whereas a non-Jewish day-worker is considered like the agent of the Jew.  

* The Rambam ([[Shabbat]] 6:12) writes that if one hires a non-Jewish worker to perform a particular task for an extended period of time, it as if one stipulated a price for a particular job as long as the Jew isn’t particular about which days the non-Jew works. The Raavad, however, considers such a worker to be a day-worker.  

# Removing an obstacle or annoyance is not considered causing direct benefit and so it’s permissible to benefit from the action of a non-Jew who turned off a light or an alarm when one wanted to go to sleep. <Ref>39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat; vol 1, pg 66) </ref> Additionally it’s permissible to benefit from the act of a non-Jew who turns off the headlights to a car (which were left on).  

# One may benefit from the action of a non-Jew which improved a situation but didn’t altogether make something unusable into something useable. For example, it’s permissible to benefit if a non-Jew tightens a already working but wobbly doorknob, chair, or table. <Ref>39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat; vol 1, pg 69) </ref>

# In order to prevent widespread transgression it’s permissible to ask a non-Jew to perform a Melacha Deoritta if that is necessary. For example, it is permissible to ask a non-Jew to fix the eruv if it fell on [[Shabbat]] so that many people don’t carry on [[Shabbat]] unintentionally. If the eruv string fell and the non-Jew can retie it with a bow, he should do so. If he can’t tie it with a bow, the non-Jew should tie it with a double knot <Ref>Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 30:23, 39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat; vol 1, pg 75), Mishna Brurah 276:25. See also the Ramban ([[Shabbat]] 130b) regarding Gittin 8b. </ref>

# In order to allow a many people to perform a mitzvah, some poskim permit asking a non-Jew to perform a Melacha Deoritta. <Ref>39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat; vol 1, pg 75) </ref>

# It’s permissible to ask a non-Jew to remove an obstacle for many people even if it involves a Melacha Deoritta if the non-Jew can’t do it with only a Derabbanan. <Ref>Shemirat [[Shabbat]] KeHilchata 30:23 </ref>

==Commanding animals to do work==