Q&A: Desecrate one Sabbath for him so that he may keep many Sabbaths
Desecrate one Sabbath for him so that he may keep many Sabbaths
Question
Hello and blessings,
According to the principle the Rabbi explains in his lectures (that there is a value-based ruling here in favor of desecrating the Sabbath, both in the life parameter and in the parameter of Sabbath observance), why is it that one would not desecrate the Sabbath ab initio on the basis of that same system of considerations? For example, suppose one organizes a large conference for repentance and return to observance on the Sabbath itself. One desecrates one Sabbath for the sake of the conference so that many people will keep Sabbaths in the future. (Let us set aside the particular calculations of how many Sabbaths will be kept and with what probability. Those calculations also exist in standard life-saving cases for any person—who says he will in fact keep two Sabbaths and not become non-religious tomorrow morning, etc.?)
Answer
Good question. The medieval authorities (Rishonim) already disagree about this (at least according to the Beit Yosef; see Rabbi Israeli's article in the early combined issues of Techumin, I think volume 1 or 2): whether spiritual life-endangerment is more severe than physical life-endangerment (with a practical difference regarding whether one desecrates the Sabbath to save a Jew who was captured by gentiles and is destined to be raised and educated as a gentile). According to the view that one does desecrate the Sabbath for this, and in my opinion that is indeed what reason indicates, there is in fact room to desecrate the Sabbath also in order to bring a Jew back to repentance.
But this would have to be a situation where the return is very highly likely, and since this involves a person's free choice, it is hard to imagine such a case. Maybe holding a seminar for many people—if and when experience shows that among them there is always some group that returns to repentance.
Discussion on Answer
Hanoch, I think the Rabbi assumes in his answer that the consideration "so that he may keep many Sabbaths" is not sufficient on its own, but only joins together with life-endangerment in order to tip the balance against Sabbath, and therefore he did not suffice with the calculation that many Sabbaths will be kept, but viewed the current situation as life-endangerment (spiritual).
And We Are Not—I understand the claim, but I do not see its basis. What are we relying on for the need to combine the two reasons above (life-endangerment and also the calculation of the number of Sabbaths)? It is not clear to me that this is a halakhic necessity. Jewish law does not qualify itself in these matters, as far as I know. One might have said that since this is an intra-halakhic ruling, "the mouth that permitted is the mouth that forbade," and Jewish law could forbid desecrating the Sabbath on probabilistic grounds alone—but I do not know of any source for that reasoning.
First of all, why not? The Sages made such a consideration based on reason, so why not apply it in other contexts?
As for combining it with the value of life-endangerment—that does not help here, because we have no way to measure it against Sabbath observance. So we neutralize it in the calculation.
Is this idea of neutralizing it an interpretation, or is it based on a source? Why not understand that only in a case of life-endangerment does the consideration join in that he will keep many Sabbaths? Who says the Talmud contains more than its own specific novelty?
Because that "novelty" is based on reasoning. If several Sabbaths by themselves do not override desecrating one Sabbath, then how would adding life-endangerment make it override? So it is clear that the calculation is between Sabbaths alone. Especially since the consideration of life-endangerment itself is not mentioned at all in the Talmud's reasoning.
The question should have been whether it is permitted to desecrate the Sabbath in order to execute Sabbath desecrators.
The workshops for Sabbath desecrators should include prior warning and witnesses, and then stoning.
Of course, it still remains to determine who these Sabbath desecrators are who should be given such workshops.
It is quite possible that cantors, rabbis, and fundraisers who do their work on the Sabbath need such a workshop.
How many hours is the workshop, what is the price, and are there directions for getting there? Thanks.
I freely admit that this runs against every intuition I have. The question of physical or spiritual life-endangerment does not exactly overlap with my question, in my humble opinion, but taking the answer in the direction of probabilities and calculations of how many Sabbaths will be kept… really goes against my intuition. Is the entire Torah really subject to these kinds of utility calculations? There would also seem to be room to discuss this in other contexts besides Sabbath (blessings, for example—is it permitted for me to eat with someone without a blessing just in order to connect with him and then convince him to recite blessings from now on?). Does the whole answer rest on the probability and likelihood of the benefit?