There was a woman who was on her way to becoming frum. She asked her husband to please not do anything forbidden on Shabbos and not take away the Shabbos atmosphere in the house, especially in front of the children.
The husband said, “I don’t have a problem with giving up the car, my phone, and anything on Shabbos; special for you. But I cannot stop smoking.”
She called her rebbetzin to ask what to do. The rebbetzin said that there’s a famous story about a woman who was also becoming frum, and her husband couldn’t give up smoking. She asked him, “As long as the candles are burning, can you please not smoke?” To that, he agreed.
Each week, the woman added a longer burning candle, and at one point she even lit a 24-hour yahrtzeit candle. Slowly, the husband got used to this, and agreed to stop smoking the whole Shabbos.
Hearing this story, she got very inspired and decided to try the same. She asked her husband if he’d be willing to make the same promise, and he agreed to do it for her.
But then, one week, she had to rush to the hospital with her elderly mother and couldn’t light at home. She realized, when she came home an hour after Shabbos had started, that when her husband came home and saw the candles not burning, he would smoke.
She wasn’t sure what to do: Could she ask her non-Jewish neighbor to light the candles? After all, it would stop her husband from smoking on Shabbos.
Can I Stop Smoking?
1) It is forbidden by rabbinic law to ask non-Jews to do a forbidden act for you on Shabbos. However, there are times when it is permitted, for example, when a mitzvah is involved. (This is called shevus d’shevus b’mekom mitzvah; see Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 307:5.) In our case, since smoking is a serious problem on a Torah level, the wife could ask the non-Jewish worker to light the candles.
2) But she should make sure the candles are in an empty can so no extra light is added to the room to enjoy. Lighting the candles this way would be called “a forbidden act without any benefit,” (this is called a melachah she’einah tzerichah l’gufah) since the room was already lit by electric lights. On a Torah level, lighting when there is no enjoyment, is not forbidden, since no one benefits from the extra light. Yet the Rabbis said it’s still not allowed to be done, even when there is no benefit. However, in such a case involving the serious issue of smoking on Shabbos, which is a problem on a torah level. It would be permitted to ask the non-Jew to light the candles. (See Me’il Tzedakah Halacha 30:1.)
Practical halacha: Ask your Rabbi.
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