We've previously discussed some of the halachot pertaining to keeping a business running on Shabbat (See here). We mentioned that a central criterion for allowing/disallowing a business to run on Shabbat is the chance that people will get the wrong impression and suspect the Jewish business owner of wrong-doing (a.k.a. "mar'it ayin").If the business is known to belong to Yossle and it is located in the heart of the Jewish community, it may not remain open on Shabbat no matter how many kosher arrangements are made previously with the non-Jewish workers or partners since we assume other members of the community will misunderstand when they see activity on Shabbat afternoon.
From my cursory review of these halachot it seems that the only ways to avoid running into this problem is to make sure your business is situated well outside the confines of the Jewish community or alternatively to make sure that no one knows it's a Jewish-owned business in the first place.
Theoretically though, there seems to be another solution. What if everyone knew that it was a Jewish business and it was situated in a Jewish area, but you had a way to make sure everyone knew that your business was being run in a permitted manner on Shabbat? It seems that if you could somehow avoid the possibility of such a misunderstanding through publicity and ensure that everyone in the community was on the same page then this concern would fall away.
This brings me to a real-world example I saw in the news today. Givot Olam is an Israeli gas and oil exploration firm. They are currently in the process of drilling for oil in the Megged 5 oil well near Rosh Ha'ayin in Israel.
An article in last week's news publicized the company's announcement that the drilling would continue on Shabbat - without violating a single melacha.
Together with Machon Tzomet, the company has come up with a way to automate the drilling process on Shabbat with the use of timers and other technologies, making human intervention for those 24 hours a week unnecessary.
While I am sure the experts at Machon Tzomet have their bases covered, I am still curious as to how they deal with the issue of mar'it ayin discussed by the poskim. Granted, no melachot are violated with the arrangement outlined in the article, but it would seem that there is still a big chance for mar'it ayin. After all, it is a Jewish-owned well that is operating in Israel on Shabbat...
My first thought was that this is the reason for including the media in the first place - maybe the publicity itself is their solution to the mar'it ayin. If everyone knows what's really going on, there is no chance for misunderstanding. In practice though, this does not seem like a fool-proof solution to the problem and it is likely that most of the country will not be aware of this.
Not quite sure I know what to make of it. Maybe I'll get in touch with Machon Tzomet to discuss this a little more at length. I'll also try to look into the halacha one more time to make sure I didn't miss anything...
Reb Zev! I would think that in this case there is room to be lenient, and there should not be a problem of mar'it ayin. The following quote from Tzitz Eliezer chelek daled siman 31 discusses a very similar situation:
ReplyDelete"אם מותר שהממטרות תהיינה בפעולתן בשבת ע"י כיוון מערב שבת...לפענ"ד נראה דכשם שלא אסרו עצם פתיקת המים מע"ש שהולכים ומשקים כל יום השבת את הגינה ולא חששו למראית עין שיאמרו שפתק בשבת גופא כך מותר נמי לפתוח מע"ש שיומשכו המים ע"י מכשיר הנקרא 'ממטרה' מכיוון שאנן פסקינן דאין איסור שביתת כלים בשבת."
Although later on in the tshuva the Tzitz Eliezer brings the words of the Rama, who says that there might be a problem in a case where "ויש אוסרים ברחיים ובכל מקום שיש לחוש להשמעת קול" (OC 252:5). From this statement in the Rama, which is referring to the Din previously stated in the Shulchan Aruch that one may activate a "רחיים של מים" prior to Shababt (even though it makes noise) to work through Shabbat. However, with all that in mind, the Rama states in the next few words: "והכי נהוג לכתחילה, מיהו במקום פסידא יש להקל". This logic would possibly apply in the case we are discussing, since it is expensive to stop and start the machinery more than necessary.
It should be noted that the Shulchan Aruch did not see a problem even in cases where one is activating a device which will make significant noise on Shabbat. It seems, though, that there should not be an issue of mar'it ayin.
(This is all based on the gemara in Shabbat 18A.)
I'd love to hear what you think. Chaim
Chaim,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice mar'eh makom. I am not convinced though that your explanation would apply here. If you read to the end of the Rama that you quoted (252:5) he seemingly adds one more qualification:
מיהו במקום פסידא יש להקל ...ומותר להעמיד כלי משקולת שקורין זייגע"ר מערב שבת, אע"פ שמשמיע קול להודיע השעות בשבת, כי הכל יודעים שדרכן להעמידו מאתמול
The reason why it's muttar to let these things run on Shabbat is because everyone knows that it is commonplace to set it up before Shabbat starts.
If however there is something that is not typically set up the day before to run on Shabbat, there still might be a concern of Mar'it Ayin.
I would compare it to a bedroom light set on a Shabbat clock. I think everyone knows that people put lights on Shabbat clocks and therefore do not suspect anything when they see lights going on and off in a Shomer Shabbat home on Shabbat.
On the other hand, with something like an oil drill, I wonder if people are aware of the possibility or the likelihood that such a thing can be run without human intervention. If you cannot say "Ha'kol Yod'im" that such a thing is possible, it would appear to still be problematic.
I have not looked over Siman 252 well yet, but this is what I would say off the cuff.