THERE IT IS, IN BLACK ON WHITE:
לא תעשה כל-מלאכה
אתה
ובנך
ובתך
ועבדך
וכל בהמתך
וגרך אשר בשערך
IN OTHER WORDS, HaShem tells us, in Dvarim/Deuteronomy 5 14, that Thou shalt not do any manner of work,
nor they son,
nor thy daughter,
nor thy man-servant,
nor thy maid servant,
(nor thy ox nor ass)
nor any of thy cattle,
nor they stranger that is within they gate. (Translation from Hertz/Soncino humash, 1996)
So how is it that almost every congregation, no matter HOW “observant” or “Orthodox” has a “Shabbos goy”?
To their credit, most Reform congregations do not have a non-Jew to do work prohibited to Jews. Many Conservative congregations also are “DIY” (do it yourself).
An aside: I have a serious problem with the word “goy.” I know I’m wasting bits and bites on the WWW, but “goy” means “nation.” HaShem promised the patriarchs to make us a “goy gadol” —. a “great nation.” Not once but several times. It’s time to “rethink” the word “goy” — and “midbar,” too.
The rabbis play games with this very straight-forward commandment.
Well, they opine, if you invite a non-Jew to your home or place of worship and it’s dark or too cold or too hot, maybe the non-Jew will volunteer to correct the problem.
If the non-Jew fails to “get the message,” the Jew, according to the rabbis, may “hint” that it would be”nice” if the non-Jew would do what the Jew is forbidden to do.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have more light? Don’t you think it’s too (hot/cold) in here?
The thing that “kicked off” this screed was a question asked of a friend, who happens to be an Ashkenazi Orthodox rabbi.
The question was:
Is it OK to prepare coffee before Shabat — fill the coffee maker’s well with water, put coffee in the filter in the coffee holder, put the carafe under the coffee holder, and set a time to start the coffee making process early on Shabat morning.
The rabbi’s answer: He would not do it, BUT his father, a rosh yeshiva in Jerusalem, would.
The issue comes down to use of electronic controls.
* Almost every observant Jew uses timers to control lights.
* Heat and air conditioners go on and off according to thermostats.
* Shabat ovens and refrigerators go on and off according to thermostats.
Basically, these are “hands free” devices. The Shabbos goy is out of the picture (unless, of course, if someone forgets to set the timers or the power fails and the timers no longer have the correct time).
I suppose the question could be: Is the non-Jew a “servant?”
I hold that the person need not be an employee the Jew. A server in a restaurant is not employed by the person dining in the restaurant, but as the name implies, the person is a server/servant.
If a Jew — for example a rabbi whose timer for whatever reason fails to turn on the lights in the shul — sends a congregant next door to ask the store owner to come over and turn on the lights, to my Winnie-the-Pooh mind, that’s forbidden. That person is serving the perceived needs of the rabbi. (By the way, I was witness to this on more than one occasion.) There was no question of “hinting” about the lights.
“Things” happen and we need to “make do.”
I’ll admit that in many places the 12 windows in a traditional synagogue are sealed closed.
I’m reminded of a story about fans.
The difference between a “penny fan” and a “nickle fan” is that you wave a nickle fan in front of your face; with a “penny fan” you move your face left and right.
Thinking about Hillel — I wonder if his rulings would be accepted if he lived today and poskened as he did in his day.
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