Is it permitted to have a gentile turn on the air conditioning on
Shabbos?
As
mentioned in the previous sheet, the optimal conduct is to prohibit
using a gentile for turning on the lights etc. even if according to some
poskim there is a heter. Preferably, the air conditioning
should be connected to a Shabbos clock, which would be timed to turn the
unit on and off. The question becomes pertinent when there is no Shabbos
clock as yet, or for some reason it did not work and the air
conditioning was not turned on.
The Mechaber
rules that in cold countries it is permitted to request a gentile to
turn on the heating for children and during fierce cold weather it is
even permitted to request a gentile to turn on the heating for adults.
The reason for this heter is because the cold can make people
sick and when illness is involved one may even request a gentile to
violate an issur
d’oraisso.
The question is: can we compare severe cold to
severe heat?
In
so far as much as becoming ill because of the severe heat, one can
compare heat to cold, but if the heat will merely cause discomfort, we
cannot compare the two.
In
other words, when the heat will distress a person so much so that one
might become bedridden, or cause dehydration, or when it concerns old
people or pregnant women who might be affected by the heat, one may
request a gentile to turn on a fan or the air conditioning.
When it will merely cause discomfort and weariness one may not request a
gentile to turn on the air conditioning.
What is the reason for this restriction?
Moreinu the Chazon Ish ztz”l ruled that the making of an
electric circuit involves an issur
d’oraisso
of Boneh
(construction) and therefore turning on an air conditioning or fan
involves an issur
d’oraisso. The halacha is
that one may only request a gentile to violate an issur
d’oraisso
in a case of
illness.
Does it make a difference whether it is for
personal use or in shul?
When the issue involves
the public at large,
such as in shul, in a dining room etc. there might be more room for
leniency, but a competent halachik authority must be asked as to
the correct conduct in such an event.
It happened that a gentile mistakenly removed
the cholent from the stove on Friday night and turned off the gas. When
it was realized that the food was for the morrow, the fire was
subsequently relit and the food returned. May it be eaten?
The problem in this
case is that the gentile had violated an issur d’oraisso
for the
sake of the Jew, besides the problem of chazora – returning food
to the fire.
The Elya Raba
writes about a case
where a gentile was about to improve the light emanating from a lamp
(which in certain cases is a permitted action) and mistakenly
extinguished the lamp. He subsequently relit it and the question was
whether a Jew may benefit from this lamp. The Elya Raba rules
that one may benefit from this lamp because it is considered as if the
gentile lit it for himself, in order to compensate for his mistake. The
halacha is that when we know that a gentile turned on a light for
his own benefit a Jew may benefit from that light as well.
Accordingly, when
the gentile made the mistake of removing the food from the fire when he
was not supposed to, we can consider the entire episode of him
relighting the fire and returning the food as if he is doing it for his
own benefit to repair his error and the food is permitted for
consumption.
We must add that
this case has a plus to it in the fact that the Jew would not have
needed the gentile do the issur for him had he not made the
mistake in the first place.
