DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 828 KB)
Paying For A Hotel Room Over Shabbat

The Halachic authorities addressed the question as to the permissibility of staying in a hotel on Shabbat. When one stays in a hotel on Shabbat, he pays for services rendered specifically on Shabbat, which would seemingly violate the prohibition of Sechar Shabbat (receiving payment for work done on Shabbat).

Rav Shelomo Kluger (Poland-Galicia, 1783-1869), in his work Ha’elef Lecha Shelomo (Orah Haim 125), addressed this question and writes that in truth, when one rents a hotel room for Shabbat he also uses it before and after Shabbat. Hotel guests who come for Shabbat generally check in on Friday afternoon and leave sometime on Mosa’eh Shabbat, well after the conclusion of Shabbat. Therefore, the payment for the hotel room is also for services provided before and after Shabbat. The Halachic principle of "Habla’a" allows one to receive payment for work that includes work done on Shabbat, as long as it also includes work done at other times. Therefore, it is permissible to pay for a hotel room for Shabbat, since the payment is also for use of the hotel room on Friday afternoon and Saturday night.

Hacham Bension Abba Shaul (Israel, 1923-1998) notes, however, that this solution would not be effective in a case where Yom Tob falls on Friday and Sunday, and one spends both days in the hotel.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Is it Permissible to Drink Wine or Grape Juice on Ereb Pesah?
Pesah – Bedikat Hametz After the Home Was Thoroughly Cleaned
Pesah – Verbally Designating Meat for Pesah
Passover- Laws of Matza: the Use of Machine Matza or Matza Made from Oats; the Beracha Over Matza; Dipping Matza in Water; Eating Matza Throughout Pesach
Pesah – The Fourth Cup of Wine at the Seder
Pesah – The Reason for Dipping Celery in Saltwater
Pesah- The Prohibition Against Eating Masa on Ereb Pesah
Pesah – Bringing Books to the Table, Using Tablecloths
Pesah – Halachot of Karpas; Reciting “Kadesh U’rhatz…” Before Each Stage of the Seder
Passover- Eating Rice on Pesah
Passover- The Fast of the Firstborn on Ereb Pesah
Ereb Pesah – Customs Regarding the Burning of Hametz; Refraining From Work on Ereb Pesah
Passover- Eating The Afikoman on Pesach Night
Passover- Buying Hametz After Pesah; Giving the Gentile Access to One’s Hametz During Pesah
The Proper Way to Dip the Marror in the Haroset
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found