Q&A: A Captured Infant with Respect to One Prohibition
A Captured Infant with Respect to One Prohibition
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Suppose that in the laws of the Sabbath, one person holds that a certain act is prohibited and another holds that it is permitted. According to the one who holds that it is prohibited, is the other considered like a captured infant with respect to that prohibition? Let me give an example: suppose a certain person holds that it is forbidden to carry on the Sabbath in an ordinary public street nowadays, in accordance with Maimonides, while his friend holds that it is permitted, in accordance with Rashi. Is that person allowed to ask his friend to carry an object for him in the street?
Best regards,
Answer
It is unrelated to the category of a captured infant. Regarding causing another person to stumble, I wrote about this in Column 503 and in this article of mine:
https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&cx=f18e4f052adde49eb&q=https://mikyab.net/%25D7%259B%25D7%25AA%25D7%2591%25D7%2599%25D7%259D/%25D7%259E%25D7%2590%25D7%259E%25D7%2590%25D7%25A8%25D7%2599%25D7%259D/%25D7%259E%25D7%2597%25D7%2599%25D7%25A8%25D7%2594-%25D7%25A9%25D7%259C-%25D7%2594%25D7%25A1%25D7%2595%25D7%2591%25D7%259C%25D7%25A0%25D7%2595%25D7%25AA/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiBgZfpgNSHAxXKcKQEHdddEjQQFnoECAQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2JPpeR-59_yDiCqgF5wEFV
True, that article deals with the opposite case, but in my opinion it is essentially the same as this case. In my article on stringency and leniency, however, I brought a discussion of precisely this case from Minchat Shlomo in the name of Ketav Sofer and others; see there:
https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&cx=f18e4f052adde49eb&q=https://mikyab.net/%25D7%259B%25D7%2591%25D7%2599%25D7%259D/%25D7%259E%25D7%2590%25D7%259E%25D7%25A8%25D7%2599%25D7%259D/%25D7%25A2%25D7%259C-%25D7%25A7%25D7%2595%25D7%259C%25D7%2590-%25D7%2595%25D7%2597%25D7%2595%25D7%259E%25D7%25A8%25D7%2590/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiPyd-FgdSHAxVYVaQEHRJ7KJoQFnoECAgQAg&usg=AOvVaw12NUHtguxFhsJkfpQEaSzp
But all of that is with regard to causing another person to commit a transgression. Here, this is making use of another person’s act, and that is forbidden. It is like directly feeding someone by hand, which is considered as though it were your own act.