One of the featured speakers at the recent Flatbush July 4th Hakhel Yarchei Kallah Event at the Agudath Israel of Madison was Rabbi Yisroel Pinchos Bodner, the author of numerous halacha seforim (books). One of the halachic topics he discussed was what could you do if on Shabbos you realized that your eyeglasses were in the same drawer as a $100 bill. Can you open that drawer in order to retrieve the glasses?
What Would You Want the Thief to Steal
Our Sages say that one is obligated to prepare before Shabbos what one needs for that Shabbos. If before Shabbos, one purposely put some coins into a dish, that dish becomes muktzah (forbidden for one to touch or move on Shabbos.) That dish no longer has the status of a klee, vessel and rather becomes a base for the muktzah coins. When Rabbi Bodner asked Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, if one could open the drawer in order to get the pair of eyeglasses, the posek asked if a thief gives you a choice of what you want him to steal, what would you tell the thief to steal?
The glasses cost only $35 and the envelope contains $100 in dollar bills. You tell the thief that he should swipe your eyeglasses. Rav Moshe disagreed with Rabbi Bodner’s choice and explained that you need your eyeglasses more on Shabbos. Therefore, you are obligated to ask the thief to please take the envelope with the $100 and leave you with the pair of eyeglasses.
On the other hand, when Rabbi Bodner asked the same question to Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, Rav Shlomo Zalman disagreed with the psak of Rav Moshe and explained that the money is more valuable and one should direct the thief to leave your house with the pair of glasses.
A second halachic question that Rabbi Bodner brought up at the July 4th Hakhel Event was what happens if a person in a bungalow colony asks a kid to bring him a soda and he would give him a quarter for his efforts [this occurred decades ago when a quarter was a significant amount of money].
The Obligation to Pay Someone Before the Next Day Begins
If the man delays in giving the child the promised quarter, is he transgressing the mitzvah of Bal Tolin? Rabbi Bodner explained that one who withholds paying in a timely manner is liable to five negative prohibitions. One is obligated to pay someone who worked for you during the day at nighttime before the start of the next morning. There is no difference if the payment is just a quarter (which is definitely a shava prutah) or a $1,000. The obligation to pay on time applies whether the employer is a man or a woman or a child. One is not obligated to make payment to an akum (non-Jew) before the start of the next morning. [If there is an agreement for a worker to be paid either weekly or bi-weekly which is common today, this is not a transgression of the mitzvah of Bal Tolin.]
Enjoying a Picnic by the Lake
Another question that Rabbi Bodner discussed is if you are picnicking by a lake, can you use the water of a lake for the obligation of netilas yadayim (to wash one’s hands before eating bread?) In order to do so, the water must be fit for a dog to drink. But, if you are in a boat in the ocean, the water [being salt water] is not fit for a dog. However, one could toivel (immerse your hands) in the ocean, by dipping your hands into the water and make the brocha (blessing) of tevilas yedayim (instead of the words netilas yedayim) and you can then eat your sandwich.
The fourth halachic question that Rabbi Bodner brought up was how to perform the mitzvah of bikur cholim (visiting a sick Jew) on Shabbos. Is it better to use an elevator that a non-Jew presses the button to reach your floor or should you rather climb up the steps?
The important aspect to remember when visiting a sick person is to pray for his or her refuah shelaimah (healing). If you forget to pray, you have not fulfilled the mitzvah of bikur cholim. What is the problem of using a Shabbos elevator? The elevator when going up, computes the weight of all the passengers and determines the amount of electricity necessary to go upwards. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach says that this doesn’t constitute a melacha (one of the forbidden 39 types of work prohibited on Shabbos). Nevertheless, he argued that one should not use the Shabbos elevator.
Why the Shabbos Elevator is Better than the Stairways
It used to be a simple thing to just climb the stairs. However, nowadays, Rabbi Bodner explained that many buildings have installed automatic sensors in the stairways that would trigger the turning on of increased lighting. Therefore, he declared that it is much better in such cases for one to instead use a Shabbos elevator than to climb the steps when performing the mitzvah of bikur cholim.
Reprinted from the July 25, 2024 edition of The Flatbush Jewish Journal.
