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...
Who Performs the Pidyon Haben for a Firstborn Who Has Already Grown Up?
How Much Must One Give a Kohen for the Misva of Pidyon Haben?
Do Parents Recite a Beracha on the Occasion of the Birth of a Son?
Determining When to Perform a Pidyon Haben
Standing at a Wedding Ceremony, Berit Mila and Pidyon Ha'ben
The Sephardic Customs for Choosing a Name for a Newborn Baby
Which Mitzvah To Perform First When Multiple Mitzvot Are at Hand, including; Should A Pidyon HaBen Be Delayed Until After A Delayed Brit Milah
The Obligations and Exemptions from Eating At A Seuda of A Brit Milah
The Miracle of Birth Praised at a Brit Milah
The Complication Of Scheduling A Brit Milah For A Baby Born Via Cesarean Section Right Before Yom Kippur
Metzitza At The Brit Milah On Shabbat and The Issue of Lash
Should The Parents Name Their Newborn Boy If The Brit Milah Is Delayed Due To Sickness, and Counting 7 Full Days Until The Milah Once A Sick Baby Boy Is Healed
The Issue of Metzitza At A Brit Milah
Laws and Customs of Lag Ba’omer
Lag Ba'omer: Haircuts, Reciting She'hecheyanu, Weddings, and Listening to Music
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found