Mishnah Shabbat

m. Shabbat 16:8

70–220

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Mishnah Shabbat 16:8 assumes a world in which Jews live alongside non-Jews who continue to work—that is, to perform activities prohibited for Jews—on the Sabbath. Although Jews are not permitted to request that a non-Jew perform prohibited activities on their behalf, the question arises whether a Jew may derive benefit from work performed by a non-Jew if it was performed not for the benefit of the Jew but for the benefit of the non-Jew.

If a non-Jew lights a lamp, a Jew may make use of its light. But if [he does it] for the sake of the Jew, it is forbidden. If he draws water to give his own animal to drink, a Jew may water his [animal] after him. But if [he draws it] for the Jew’s sake, it is forbidden. If a non-Jew makes a plank to descend [off a ship], a Jew may descend after him. But if [he makes it] on the Jew’s account, it is forbidden. It once happened that Rabban Gamaliel and the elders were traveling in a ship when a non-Jew made a plank for getting off, and Rabban Gamaliel and the elders descended by it.

Adapted from the translation of Joshua Kulp.
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m. Shabbat 16:8, adapted from Mishnah Yomit, trans. Joshua Kulp, www.sefaria.org. Originally from https://learn.conservativeyeshiva.org. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) License.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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Mishnah Shabbat 16:8 assumes a world in which Jews live alongside non-Jews who continue to work—that is, to perform activities prohibited for Jews—on the Sabbath. Although Jews are not permitted to request that a non-Jew perform prohibited activities on their behalf, the question arises whether a Jew may derive benefit from work performed by a non-Jew if it was performed not for the benefit of the Jew but for the benefit of the non-Jew.

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