Q&A: Sauna and Jacuzzi on the Sabbath
Sauna and Jacuzzi on the Sabbath
Question
Hello Rabbi, in a hotel abroad that is entirely operated by non-Jews, is it permitted to enter a sauna? And regarding a jacuzzi, is it permitted to put in only part of the body?
Answer
Hello,
If they are doing it for you, then it is forbidden (a non-Jew's Sabbath labor done for a Jew). If not, then there is still the additional prohibition of bathing in hot water. Therefore, if they are not doing it for you and it is cold, then it is permitted. Of course, the assumption is that we are talking about washing his entire body. The face and hands are permitted even in hot water (if it was heated permissibly, such as from before the Sabbath).
Discussion on Answer
They decreed against bathing in hot water even in a bathtub. Why should a sauna be any different?
I'm talking about bathing in hot water. Sweating is a different story, since that was also prohibited because of medical treatment.
Where is it written that sweating is forbidden because of medical treatment? In the passage in tractate Shabbat on page 40, it sounds like it is forbidden because of the bathhouse decree.
Simply speaking, it is because of both. See for example here: https://www.yeshiva.org.il/ask/120883
Is there a rabbinic decree regarding a sauna? I know the Sages also made a decree about sweating, but as far as I understand that's only in a bathhouse. Is a sauna included in that prohibition?