Question: Is it permissible to give a gift on Shabbat for a Bar Mitzvah?
Answer: Our Sages prohibited business transactions on Shabbat and Yom Tov, as a decree lest one write. This includes the prohibition against giving a gift, except when the item is needed for Shabbat itself, such as food required for the meal. Some are lenient regarding giving a gift to the groom on the Shabbat of the Sheva Brachot, since in their view the giving itself constitutes a mitzvah—to bring joy to the bride and groom—but giving a gift for a Bar Mitzvah is certainly not a mitzvah. For one who nevertheless wishes to give a Bar Mitzvah gift on Shabbat, it can be done in one of the following ways:
- Acquire it for the boy through another person before Shabbat, for “one acquires for a person even without his presence” (zachin le’adam shelo b’fanav). That is, before Shabbat, give the item to a person over the age of mitzvot, who is not a member of the giver’s household, to raise the gift by a handbreadth (tefach) in order to acquire it for the Bar Mitzvah boy.
- When giving the gift, tell the boy that there is no intention at that moment to give the gift at all (not even to effect an acquisition for a gift that will take effect after Shabbat), and until after Shabbat the gift is only on loan. Only when Shabbat ends may the boy acquire the gift.
Since not all givers are aware of this law, it is advisable to teach a Bar Mitzvah boy, who may receive gifts on Shabbat, that he himself should not intend to acquire the gift on Shabbat. Ideally, he should declare this intention explicitly before two people before beginning to receive gifts, because otherwise his lack of intent to acquire may remain only “matters of the heart,” which are not effective.
Adapted and translated from Sichat HaShavuah
