Q&A: Is It Permissible to Enjoy a Permitted Transgression?
Is It Permissible to Enjoy a Permitted Transgression?
Question
Hello,
If something is defined as a transgression but is permitted under certain conditions, is it then allowed to enjoy the transgression?
Two cases, for example –
If a person needs to travel on the Sabbath for a permitted medical purpose, is he allowed to "enjoy the ride," or must he, for example, sit upright stiffly and not enjoy it?
If a person is permitted to eat pork for some medical reason, or he is under security cover and in order to maintain that cover he has to eat it, or he is somewhere where there is only pork and if he does not eat it he will die – does he need to eat it in a way that avoids tasting the pork as much as possible, or can he just eat it and enjoy it?
Thank you
Answer
There is no prohibition against enjoying a ride on the Sabbath. The prohibition is traveling. You could ask whether there is a prohibition against doing something extra during that trip. Plainly speaking, that is rabbinically prohibited under the rule of increasing the measure, though distinctions can be made.
Also regarding pork, there is no prohibition against deriving benefit from pork. If he had to eat orlah fruit, from which deriving benefit is prohibited, then he would have to eat it and try not to enjoy it.