RR 51-55

Gift Corner Open on the Sabbath

The congregational Gift Corner provides books and Prayerbooks, candles and candlesticks, Chanukah menorahs; in other words, it serves a religious pur pose. Should this fact not justify keeping the Gift Corner open on Friday night? It is only on Friday night that large numbers of people coming for the Sabbath service can conveniently make use of the Gift Corner. (From Rabbi David Polish, Chicago, Illinois)

This question would evoke a complete and immediate negative from an Orthodox rabbi. There cannot possibly be any way of justifying by traditional law any of the processes involved in keeping the Gift Corner open after sundown on Friday evening. It is unnecessary to enumerate the various prohibited actions that would be involved, such as writing down orders, receiving money, giving change, and carrying purchased objects home from the synagogue. Thus, the question is so simple in Orthodoxy that it would not even be asked.

But in a Reform (and for that matter in a Conservative) congregation the question is no longer simple and may well be inquired into and considered. The Sabbath laws of prohibited work are no longer clear with us. They are undergoing constant change. As far as the rather undefined mood of Reform is concerned, certain Sabbath prohibitions have simply ceased to be actual among us. No one in a Reform community considers it a violation of the spirit of Judaism to ride to the temple on the Sabbath and to drive the car one’s self, nor is it violative of our feelings to carry objects on the Sabbath from one place (Reshus) to another. No one objects to the cooking of food on the Sabbath, nor for that matter, if it became necessary, to the purchasing of food. These things are no longer contrary to our general Sabbath mood. But there is a difference between us and the Conservatives on this matter, although they generally are equally nonobservant with regard to these Sabbath laws. The Conservatives might try to reestablish the observance of these laws or, failing that, they would make a strong effort to find a legal justification for the new situation. Clearly, our attitude is different. Generally we feel that those observances that are gone cannot now be easily restored. The effort to restore them would require an overemphasis on ritual matters. However, what we can preserve, and without too much overemphasis restore as a natural mood of the people, that we would endeavor to do.

Therefore we are justified in making a distinction between what the people do outside the temple with regard to Jewish observance and what we would permit on the Sabbath or on other occasions on the temple premises. Thus, for example, while people do drink liquor at home and at parties, many congregations do not permit hard liquor at temple celebrations. There is, indeed, an inconsistency in this, but that is due to the fact that we want the temple to be an example and an influence in certain special directions. The people readily recognize that certain types of celebrations or observances which they follow elsewhere are not appropriate at the temple. It is from this point of view that we must consider the question of keeping the Gift Corner open on Friday night.

Is there any justification for this particular enterprise being open on the Sabbath in the temple? Is any sort of business permitted in the temple on the Sabbath? We know, for example, that it is a long tradition that certain of the privileges with regard to taking out and being called to the Torah were not only sold, but auctioned off at the highest price during the service itself. No one has strongly objected to this procedure. It has had many defenders (see the entire discussion in Responsum #8, “Congregational Meeting on the Sabbath”). The reason that this auctioning of mitzvos could become so established as a fixed custom is due to a clear distinction made in the Talmud (b. Shabbas 150a) between personal business and public business, especially with regard to the money needed for charity and for communal good. The Talmud calls attention to the fact that Isaiah (58 : 13) warns against “pursuing thy business” (that is, one’s own private affairs) on the Sabbath. Therefore, it concludes, we may make money calculations for a mitzvah, we may determine on money matters relating to charity for the poor on the Sabbath, and go to the synagogue to supervise the affairs of the community on the Sabbath. This permission to discuss matters involving money is codified as a law by Maimonides (Hilchos Shabbas 24 : 5) and by Joseph Caro and Isserles in Shulchan Aruch (Orah Hayyim 306 : 6).

Is the Gift Corner, or Judaica Shop, to be considered a business for “the benefit of the community,” which is per mitted on the Sabbath? To a large extent it is. The providing of prayerbooks, menorahs, candlesticks, and books of Jewish study certainly promotes the observance of our religion. Even the purchase of nonreligious objects contributes to the income of the Sisterhood and not only makes possible its own work, but helps provide contributions from the Sisterhood to building funds and to general maintenance. The Gift Corner may therefore be considered to be the type of public work which is permitted on the Sabbath. However, even in the public work which is permitted by the law, the definitely prohibited actions, such as handling of money, et cetera, were of course never permitted (see Maggid Mishnah to the law in Maimonides, cited above). What, then, is the good of permitting the opening of the Gift Corner if the transactions involved are violative of the mood of the Sabbath, especially in the synagogue?

Of course, if there is no particular pressure for the opening of the Gift Corner on Friday night, the simplest thing is to keep it closed. But since the question has been asked, it is evident that there are some in the congregation who would like it open and, very likely, some others who have certain objections to its being open. The solution, therefore, must be a matter of judgment, depending upon the mood of the particular congregations involved. It would seem that the best procedure, under our present vague relationship with the Sabbath laws, would be somewhat as follows:

The Gift Corner may well be kept open, but a clear distinction should be made between its management on the Sabbath and on other days of the week. On Sunday, when parents bring their children to Sunday School, on weekdays when there are sewing groups and other meetings, the Gift Corner is open for complete business as any other place of business. On the Sabbath, however, although the Gift Corner is open, there should be no exchange of money, but people may come in to select what they want. People do that all the time in department stores; they choose what they want and delivery and payment come later. It is not likely that the business of selecting and ordering in the Gift Corner will be so great and complex that it cannot be carried in mind by the committee members, and matters of delivery and payment can easily be arranged.

This distinction between the Gift Corner’s procedure on the Sabbath and on weekdays would rather tend to strengthen the consciousness of the Sabbath in the lives of our people. It would serve to remind them of the Sabbath traditions and perhaps influence them to do less purchasing in general on the Sabbath, whenever such self-restraint is practical.