Light rail shutdown on Saturday
Hello Rabbi,
I heard that the cost to the economy of shutting down the light rail on Shabbat is a billion NIS. Do you think the light rail should be allowed to run on Shabbat in order to save this amount of money for the economy that could be used for essential public needs such as medicines and hospitals (and perhaps even save quite a few lives)?
Best regards,
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Even if the work is done by Gentiles or secular people (whose offenses are not offenses in your opinion)?
There is a mix of questions here. In my opinion, the state should not observe Shabbat. This is a democratic state whose citizens do not observe Shabbat. Halachically, it is not permissible to employ people on Shabbat, even non-Jews, in order to earn money (and no matter what the goal is). When there is a concrete, current danger, and there is no other funding to deal with it, then there may be a place to permit it. If I send a non-Jew or a secular person to work so that I can have money, it is forbidden.
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