Halacha position: Is it allowed to turn on an air conditioner on Shabbat?

Rabbi Shai Tahan makes the Halachot accessible to us and answers questions asked in and out of the beit midrash, and this time - what about an air conditioner on Shabbat?

David Berger, submitted on behalf of Shuva Israel

24/05/2022

Tuesday, 24 May 2022, 10:52 Updated: 10:58

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Many times, in our daily lives, halakhic questions arise and topical doubts arise.

Rabbi Shai Tahan, head of the Shaare Ezra Kollel and head of the Arazi Lebanon Teaching House, makes the laws accessible to us and answers questions asked in and out of the beit midrash.

And today: Is it allowed to turn on an air conditioner on Saturday?

Hello, Rabbi, we are a group that organizes Saturdays in hotels and many questions arise in Halacha.

Here's a recent question.

Although usually in hotel halls and lobbies there is a uniform degree of heat controlled by a temperature regulator, however sometimes the host audience feels uncomfortable and seeks to change the degrees to a warmer or colder degree.

And sometimes there are halls where the air conditioner or heating does not work at all in some halls, and the hotel staff turns on the air conditioning there as needed.

Are guests allowed to stay in this place even if they turned on the air conditioner or the heating on Shabbat Kodesh?

:

Hello, and good luck.

The answer to this question is divided into several points.

If those who lit are strangers.

If there were Jews who desecrated the Sabbath.

And from this branch one has to discuss whether the lighting was done for all the hotel guests or especially for the Jews.

And whether the place was suitable for use even without the lighting or whether it was not possible to stay there because the place was quite hot or cold.

A.

If the one who lit the candle was not a Jew, it would seem that one should be forbidden to enjoy his work, as both of us in Sha'a (Mark Ra'u SA): What is the meaning of the lighting, if it was lit for the Jewish guests it should be forbidden, and if the lighting was for all the guests, foreigners and Jews it should be seen who the majority are, according to the Sha'a (ibid.): "If the majority are not Jews it is permissible to use its light, and if the majority of Israel or even half over half is forbidden."

And if it seems that the foreigner lit for the Jews and such that they were the ones who needed the lighting should be aggravated in any case, and as the words of the Mishnah (ibid. Sec. 17).

And one should know that it should not be facilitated because he works at the place, that the Rama (ibid. SA) wrote that it should not be permitted whether he works in a lease that receives his salary by the hour or in contracting that he receives by craft, i.e. for every lighting he lights.

However, in the case of turning on the air conditioner or the heating in the hotel hall and the like, there is room for relief for several reasons, the first written by the Rama (ibid. SA) that if the non-Jew did in the house of Israel And the Mishnah wrote there (paragraph 12) that it is not precisely in his house, Dahua Din if Shabbat in a hotel with a non-Jew on Shabbat is considered the place as his home and Halacha did not bother to leave his place

. But if the Jew sees the foreigner who has come to light, then he is obligated to prevent it, as the Mishnah wrote there (paragraph 11).

And sometimes there is room to lighten and explicitly ask him to turn on, such as if the cold is great because everyone is sick with the cold (Sha'a C. Re'u Se'a), or even if it is only a little cold and there are children, the elderly or the sick among the guests because they are more likely to get sick , Especially with regard to turning on the air conditioner on hot days because the heat is harder than the cold, as many arbitrators have brought in the name of the Toss (Bava Batra Kamed, in D.H. Electricity, and oh Shvut Dashvot in place of sorrow (Minchat Yitzchak H.G. C. Kg.

And with regard to a place where the air conditioner or heating was operating and only the temperature had to be adjusted according to the object of the guests, it should be easier to imply this to a foreigner even in crafts involving prohibitions from the Torah, as we learned in the Mishnah. To imply to a gentile that they will be corrected and there is no prohibition in this, since the enjoyment of the candle existed before and there is no renewed enjoyment in it only the addition of the existing enjoyment.

And also with us that if the air conditioner or heating works, it is possible to hint to a gentile that they will raise or lower them as needed.

Home air conditioner (Photo: ShutterStock)

B.

We will now discuss about a Jew from the Shabbat space who turned on the heating or the air conditioner for the guests.

In this case, it should have been simply forbidden, since the sages forbade enjoying any work done on Shabbat, whether it was done intentionally or accidentally (Sha'a Rish C. Sheikh).

But even in this there is sometimes room to facilitate, see the words of keeping the Sabbath properly (Chapter 26, Section 27): "It is forbidden to approach or lean on the heating element in order to enjoy the heat."

And the reasons for this are given in the Epistles of Moses (O.H. H. C. KKG) that since the prohibition of producing pleasure from a work done with a prohibition on Shabbat is only from Durban (Rish C. Sheikh) therefore instead of a great need of chill is allowed even if he intends to enjoy the work (Rashi Pesachim etc. as well as Thos. There in great need), and moreover it is possible that the pleasure of heat is considered as something that is not really and similar to sound, appearance and smell. H. H. C. C. Coffee).

But make sure that initially the organizers do not rely on all these permits designed to facilitate only in retrospect and make sure before Saturday that the air conditioner or heating will work in a way and in a way that all the guests will feel comfortable.

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