Responsum: On a Communal Oven

Question: You asked: [There was] a Jew who had an oven in his courtyard, in his domain, next to the walls of his house, from which the household derived sustenance, and he had a non-Jewish worker who would heat it for Jews and non-Jews, and the officials of the governor, the chief bakers, came and persuaded Reuben to let them enter his house and [said] they would remunerate him for use of the oven. While so doing, they entered the courtyard and baked their bread in the oven, and on the Sabbath eve they refused to leave and they seized the oven, and on the Sabbath day they made what they wanted in it. After them, other bakers, [who worked on behalf] of the governor’s officials, came and behaved like the first ones. Reuben was unable to eject them, due to their hatred. Now, did he incur any guilt in this matter or not, and as for what the governor’s and princes’ bakers gave him upon the termination of the Sabbath as remuneration for [the use of] the oven in which they baked on the Sabbath, may he benefit from that bread?

Answer: This has been shown to me by heaven, and my mind inclines to this view: If bakers of the governor [bake] bread in the communal oven of a Jew without his knowledge or consent on Sabbaths and festivals, what can he do? He is forced, and the Torah exempts forced individuals, and he incurs no guilt! However, because of suspicion, so as to fulfill his obligations toward the Almighty and people that they should not say that they baked with his consent, he must go to the non-Jewish court to challenge them, to fulfill his duty to satisfy people, just as he fulfills his duty to the Almighty, as it says: You shall be clean before the Lord and before Israel (Numbers 32:22). If he is unable to prevent them [from using the oven], he is clear of sin. But it is forbidden to receive a fee for the use [of the oven] on the Sabbath, as it is taught in a baraita: R. Simeon ben Gamaliel says: A man may not rent out his bathhouse to a non-Jew, as it is called by his [i.e., the Jew’s] name and this non-Jew carries out his work in it on Sabbaths and festivals [b. Avodah Zarah 21b]. The baraita mentions a bathhouse, but the case is the same regarding a large oven because it is called by his name. And if you were to say, ideally, one should not hire it out, but after the fact it is permitted to take payment for hiring out on the Sabbath—this is not the case, since any remuneration for hiring out on the Sabbath is prohibited even after the fact, as we say [regarding business partnerships], a man may not say to a non-Jew, “You take your portion on the Sabbath, and I will take the portion on weekdays’” [b. Avodah Zarah 21b]. Hence all such remuneration is forbidden and exchanges for Sabbaths are forbidden. However, if they made a condition from the outset, it is permitted, as this is not deemed remuneration for the Sabbath, as this was their arrangement. But if they make calculations [after the fact], it is certainly prohibited, as it looks like remuneration for the Sabbath. And where they make a calculation as to how much the non-Jew took on the Sabbath and the Jew on the Sunday, it is considered to be after the fact and prohibited. Accordingly, it is forbidden for Reuben to take remuneration for the Sabbath. This is the halakhah.

Gershom ben Judah.