DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

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

      
(File size: 748 KB)
Renting Hotel Rooms to non-Jews for Shabbat

The Shulhan Aruch (246:1) rules that it is permitted to rent utensils to a non-Jew on Friday, even if he will do melacha with them on Shabbat. This leniency is based on the principle "En Shvitat Kelim B’Shabbat"-a Jew is not required to ensure that his utensils desist from working on Shabbat. The accepted interpretation of this ruling is that it is permissible to rent to a non-Jew even for the day of Shabbat alone. All the more so if it was done "B'havla'ah,"-where it's done for Friday and part of Saturday night, where the Shabbat rental is encompassed within the weekday period.

One important application of this Halacha is a Jew renting hotel rooms to non-Jews for Shabbat. The issue of the non-Jew using hotel amenities, such as lights and hot water, is not a problem because "En Shvitat Kelim B’Shabbat." There is also no issue of profiting from the Shabbat, since part of Friday and Mosei Shabbat are also included in the rental term. This constitutes "Havla’ah" and would solve the problem of earning profit on Shabbat, even according to the stricter opinions.

The same principle is also the basis for permitting the rental of cars and telephones over Shabbat. Hacham David permits this even if the client is paying per mile or minute.

SUMMARY
It is permitted to rent hotel rooms, cars or cellular phones to non-Jews on Friday.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
May One Enter the Restroom With a Small Torah Book in His Pocket?
If the Hazan Began Reciting “Ata Honen” When Repeating the Amida on Shabbat
Tending on Shabbat to a Patient Whose Condition is Not Life-Threatening
Is One Allowed to Keep Other Items With the Tefillin in the Tefillin Bag?
Should One Expose the Tzitzit of His Tallit Katan?
Sisit: Folding a Tallit and other Garments on Shabbat
Sisit: Selling a Tallit to a Non-Jew, Hashgacha on Sisit, Using a Tallit to Clean Eyeglasses
Sisit: Folding the Tallit
Sisit: Bedsheets and the Earliest Time for Donning a Tallit
Sisit: Why Don't We Make a Beracha on a Tallit Katan?
Sisit: May One Recite a Beracha on a Tallit After Sunset?
Sisit: From What Age Should Boy Wear a Tallit?
Sisit: Using a Borrowed Tallit
Sisit: Can Sisit That Are No Longer Used be Disposed of?
Sisit: If Strings Tear
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found