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...
Achieving Atonement for Different Categories of Sin
The Obligation of Vidui – Confession
Yom Kippur- Immersing in a Mikveh on Ereb Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur- Reciting One Hundred Berachot on Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur- Reciting Viduy at Minha on Ereb Yom Kippur
Children Fasting on Yom Kippur
Explaining the Term "Yom Ha'kippurim"; Sins Committed "With the Evil Inclination"
Atonement for Sins Committed Against One's Fellow
Yom Kippur- The Rules Of Fasting for Minors
Saying Shehechiyanu on Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur Laws Regarding Rinsing, Swallowing Saliva, and Accidentally Making A Beracha To Eat
Yom Kippur- The Laws and Custom of Kaparot
May a Non-Observant Kohen Recite Birkat Kohanim?
Reciting Birkat Kohanim After Drinking Wine or Other Alcoholic Beverages
For How Long Must One Stand in Place After Completing the Amida?
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found