Shabbos goy
Template:Short description A Shabbos goy, Shabbat goy or Shabbes goy (Template:Langx, shabbos goy; Template:Langx, goy shel shabbat; plural Shabbos goyim) is a non-Jew who is employed by Jews to perform certain types of work (melakha) that Jewish religious law (halakha) prohibits a Jew from doing on the Shabbat.
Etymology
The term is a combination of the words Shabbos (שבת), the term for Sabbath in Ashkenazi Jewish usage, and goy (גוי), a gentile or non-Jew.[1] The word goy, which translates literally as "nation" in Biblical Hebrew,[2] has over time acquired the meaning of someone who is not Jewish. In modern usage in English, the word goy is sometimes seen as derogatory, but this is a point of discussion in the Jewish community. According to Adi Ophir and Ishay Rosen-Zvi, this usage started to take place from the first and second century onwards. They argue that before this time, no crystallized dichotomy between Jew and non-Jew existed in Judaism.[3]
Description
On Shabbat, there are numerous restrictions[4] and certain types of work are prohibited, such as construction work.[5] The rabbis ruled that asking a non-Jew to violate Shabbat for oneself is generally forbidden,[6] but under certain circumstances the rabbis allowed it, especially to heat the oven on winter days in northern countries.[7] A shabbos goy is not needed where life is at stake (pikuach nefesh) or in the case where there would be a reasonable chance of danger to life (safek pikuach nefesh).
Originally, the job of the shabbos goy was often given to a poor woman, and the compensation was in the form of challah; later, money was given,[7] although not on Shabbat or not directly given to the worker, due to halakhic restrictions on hiring workers on Shabbat.
According to Ronald J. Eisenberg, "Today the proliferation of electronic timers has virtually eliminated the need for the Shabbos goy, who once played an important role, especially in the shtetls of Eastern Europe."[8]
Notable examples
Notable examples of Shabos goyim include Maxim Gorky,[7] Thomas D'Alesandro Jr,[9] Floyd B. Olson,[10][11] Harry S. Truman,[12][13][14] Pete Hamill,[15] Colin Powell,[15][16][17] Mario Cuomo,[17] Martin Scorsese,[15] Ralph Branca (who did not know at the time that he was Jewish),[18] Tom Jones,[19] and the adolescent Elvis Presley,[15][20] all of whom served their Jewish neighbors in this way. Barack Obama served his Jewish office neighbor while serving in the Illinois Senate.[21]
References
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- ↑ Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 150a
- ↑ a b c Template:Cite Jewish Encyclopedia
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- ↑ a b c d Chan, Sewell, "White Ethnic Politics: Irish and Italian Catholics and Jews, Oh, My!", The New York Times, October 25, 2007. "'I became the Shabbos goy at the synagogue,' he said. 'So every Saturday morning, I would go in, on my way to Holy Name Church, with my surplice on my arm and I would do whatever the rabbi would ask me to do — turn on the gas stove, whatever — and there would be a dime on the shelf at the front door, which he wouldn't touch, and off I’d go.' Mr. Hamill cited other 'Shabbos goys': Colin L. Powell, Martin Scorsese, even Elvis Presley."
- ↑ Clines, Francis X. "The Co-Author of Gen. Powell's Book Is Given a Part as the Story Goes On", The New York Times, October 1, 1995. "...[R]eaders follow General Powell all the way back from Gulf War strategist to South Bronx Shabbos goy, the lad who earned a quarter on Friday nights turning on and off the synagogue lights for Orthodox Jews."
- ↑ a b Fertig, Avi. "Glatt Kosher Adventure To The Land Down Under", The Jewish Press, November 21, 2007. "Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell and Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York State, each a former Shabbos goy, both share fond recollections of their youth, when they were uniquely qualified to lend a Jewish neighbor a hand."
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- ↑ Sources give two different people for whom Elvis was a shabbos goy. In Tugging at Jewish Weeds: An Interview with Steve Stern it was the Dubrovner family; to Alfred J. Kolatch, in his Inside Judaism: The Concepts, Customs, and Celebrations of the Jewish People (Pub. Jonathan David, 2006), p. 480, citing a secondary source, it is Rabbi Alfred Fruchter who is helped.
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Further reading
- Dundes, Alan. "The Shabbes Goy", in The Shabbat Elevator and other Sabbath Subterfuges: An Unorthodox Essay on Circumventing Custom and Jewish Character, Rowman & Littlefield, 2002, pp. 62–74. Template:Isbn
- Katz, Jacob (trans. Yoel Lerner). The "Shabbes Goy": A Study in Halakhic Flexibility, Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia/Jerusalem, 1989.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
- Neuwirth, Yehoshua. Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah (Shemirath Shabbath: A guide to the practical observance of Shabbath) (Chapter 30: 1–7 Milechet Nachri b'Shabbat v'b Yom Tov), Feldheim Publishers, 2002. Template:Isbn
- Velarde, Joe. "The Shabbos Goy – That Was Me", Aish.com, June 16, 2007.
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