Shabbos goy

Shabbos goy or Shabbes goy ( Yiddish : שבת גוי, shabbos goy Modern Hebrew : גוי של שבת goy shel shabat ) is an individual who regularly assists a Jewish individual or organization by performing certain acts on the Biblical Sabbath which are forbidden to Jews within Jewish law.¹ The phrase is a combination of the word "Shabbos" (שבת) meaning the Sabbath, and "Goy", which literally means "a nation" but practically means a "non-Jew" (in Biblical Hebrew "goy" means simply "a nation", but in Mishnaic Hebrew it is used in the sense of "a non-national", i.e., "a non-Jew").² Judaism prohibits certain types of work on the Sabbath, known as " melakha ". Within certain guidelines (as dictated by the Shulkhan Arukh , the most authoritative Jewish code of law), a non-Jewish individual under certain circumstances may perform certain acts which are beneficial to Jews but would be forbidden for them to perform. Generally speaking, a Jew should respect a non-Jew's right to rest on the Sabbath, and therefore he may not ask a non-Jew to perform a service prohibited on the Sabbath by the Jewish law, nor may the Jew get benefit ("hana'a") from such a service. Nevertheless, a non-Jew is not expected to keep the Sabbath like a Jew. Hence a Jew may benefit from work performed by a goy if the goy performs this work for his own good and of his own free will. A borderline case is when a Jew hints to a non-Jew that he wants him to perform a certain service without explicitly asking him. These borderline cases are considered legitimate in most Jewish communities. Furthermore, in many Jewish communities it is considered legitimate to hire a non-Jewish worker to perform certain services on the Sabbath, providing that the non-Jew is paid in advance, so that the payment seems like a kind of gift rather than a salary. This way, the principle of the non-Jew performing the service of his own free will is still adhered to, at least formally. It is more appropriate if the non-Jew enjoys his own service in a way. A "shabbat goy" is not needed for performing life saving services, known as pikuach nefesh . They must, however, avoid any unnecessary work forbidden on the Sabbath.³ In certain households and synagogues a particular non-Jewish person (invariably not a member of the home/synagogue) may be designated as the Shabbos goy for that place. This individual is usually one who would be present regardless of this role, such as a babysitter or a synagogue maintenance crew member, and is typically paid for the work. Before the 20th century Shabbos goys most commonly lit (or re-lit) stoves in Jewish homes in the winter. In the 20th century Colin Powell and Mario Cuomo both assisted their Jewish neighbors in this way.⁴ Martin Scorsese and the adolescent Elvis Presley similarly helped neighbors.⁵ Colin Powell and Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York State, each a former Shabbos goy, both share fond recollections of their youth, when they were uniquely qualified to lend a Jewish neighbor a hand." Fertig, Avi. "...[R]eaders follow General Powell all the way back from Gulf War strategist to South Bronx Shabbos goy, the lad who earned a quarter on Friday nights turning on and off the synagogue lights for Orthodox Jews." Clines, Francis X. In Tugging at Jewish Weeds: An Interview with Steve Stern it was the Dubrovner family; to Alfred J. Kolatch, in his Inside Judaism: The Concepts, Customs, and Celebrations of the Jewish People (Pub.⁶