CCAR RESPONSA
American Reform Responsa
44. Orthodox Jew as Partner in Firm Keeping Open on the Sabbath
(Vol. XLII, 1932, pp. 82-83)QUESTION: An Orthodox Jew desires to become a member of a law firm, the present members of which are all Reform Jews. He consulted a rabbinic authority and was advised that he could not allow his name to appear as a member of the firm if the offices of the firm were open on the Sabbath. They are closed only on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. He was informed that if a Christian became a member of the firm, even nominally, this objection would be waived. He has declined to appeal to any other rabbinic authority. I have no objection to the decision as such. If, however, you find any contrary precedent which would be binding on an Orthodox Jew, I shall be happy to know it.ANSWER: In regard to the question, I could not find any possible argument–not to mention a precedent–which would invalidate the decision given by the rabbinic authority consulted on this matter. In fact, the rabbinic authority in question went to the limit of liberal interpretation of the law in waiving any objection in case a non-Jew would nominally become a partner of the firm. According to the stricter interpretation of the law, there would be objection in this case even if there were a non-Jewish partner. The principle of the law is that the Jew is not to receive any profit from work done on his behalf on a Sabbath even when done by a non-Jew. In case of an ordinary partnership with a non-Jew, the Jew may stipulate in the arrangement or partnership agreement that the non-Jew should do the work–and take the entire proceeds therefrom–on the Sabbath day, while the Jew would instead do the work on any other day of the week and take the entire proceeds therefrom (Talmud, Avoda Zara 22a). In a partnership of the nature of your case, where the profit accruing from the work on one day cannot be specified, and the work cannot be so divided between the partners that one should work on one day and the other on another, some authorities permit the Jew to take his share of the total profit, even though a certain percentage of that profit accrued from the work done by the non-Jewish partner on the Sabbath day (Isserles in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 241.1, quoting R. Nissim). The assumption upon which this decision is based is that the non-Jewish partner is his own boss and not the agent of the Jew. He, as a partner, has the right to attend to business even at times when his Jewish partner neglects to do so. He may, if he so wishes, stay in the office and work, e.g., in the evening after his Jewish partner closes his week of work. And even though the profits of the business increase by this extra work of the non-Jew, since that part of the profit accruing from the non-Jew’s work on the Sabbath is not clearly specified as profit from Sabbath work but is figured in the total of the profits from the whole week, month, or year, the Jew need have no compunction in accepting it. In your case, however, the observant Jew would receive not only the unspecified part of the profit resulting from the work on the Sabbath by the nominal non-Jew partner, but also the profit resulting from the work done by the Jewish partners and all the clerks in the office partly employed by him, and, therefore, his agents. But, of course, I am not going to be stricter than the rabbinical authority consulted on this point.Jacob Z. Lauterbach
If needed, please consult Abbreviations used in CCAR Responsa.