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...
Purim – Appreciating the Special Sanctity of Megilat Ester
“Boreh Me’oreh Ha’esh” When Purim Falls on Mosa’eh Shabbat
Purim: When Purim Falls on Mosa’eh Shabbat
Purim – Customs Relevant to Se’udat Purim
Purim – Haircuts, Nail Cutting, Working, Eulogies and Mourners
Purim – Wearing Shabbat Clothes; Customs for Purim Night; Learning Torah on Purim
Purim – Giving the Mahasit Ha’shekel
Purim – Does the Reader Unravel the Megilla Before Beginning the Reading?
Purim- Many Laws of Megilah & Tefilah
Purim – The Procedure for the Prayers and Habdala When Purim Falls on Mosa’eh Shabbat
Purim – Drinking and Conducting Oneself Responsibly
Purim – Allusions to G-d’s Name in the Megila
Purim – The Writing of the Names of Haman’s Sons in the Megilla
The Sephardic Custom to Sing “Mi Kamocha” on the Shabbat Before Purim
Purim – Wearing Shabbat Clothes; Customs for Purim Night; Learning Torah on Purim
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found