[Avodah] free public transport on Shabbos/Yomtov

[Chana Luntz]

RAM wrote (responding to RZS):

<<You seem to presume that the main/only problem is paying, or the maaris
ayin that others might think I paid for the ride. To me, a much bigger
problem is defining the line between which vehicles are so large and strong
that my weight is negligible and does not cause the vehicle to do more
melacha, versus those vehicles which are smaller and my weight *does* cause
the vehicle to work harder.>>

I think if we are going to have a meaningful discussion about this, it is
important to look at the reasons given by the poskim who prohibited such
travel in earlier years.  The place to start, I suggest, is the Shut Chatam
Sofer Chelek 6 siman 97, discussing steam engines.  And there he makes it
clear that the problem is not that the non-Jew is stoking the coals, because
the majority of the people he is stoking the coals for are non-Jews.  He
clearly did not regarding the minor amount of weight that was added by the
Jew as causing an issue in that case, if the majority of the travellers were
non-Jews.  One would have to consider whether the design of modern
combustion engines made that understanding more problematic, but it would
not seem to me to alter things significantly.

Rather the Chatam Sofer fundamentally prohibited (and he was primarily
discussing a situation where a person got on the train on erev Shabbat, like
a person gets on a boat erev Shabbat), and regardless he held that not only
is it uvda d'chol, but also that it violates a shvus, at least rabbinic, and
d'orisa according to a Ramban in Emor, because the person does an action
with their body, which sways back and forth.

The Tzitz Eliezer in Shut Tzitz Eliezer chelek 11 siman 21 agreed to this.
There he was discussing a case where a woman wanted to light candles and
then go to the kotel by car (before Shabbas) .  And the suggestion was, let
her light candles, bring in Shabbas, and have her husband, who had not yet
brought in Shabbas, drive her there.  And the Tzitz Eliezer rejects this
because the woman will herself be violating shabbas, based on the actions of
the woman's body.  See also his teshuva at  Tzitz Eliezer Chelek 1 siman 21
where he adds to the Chatam Sofer that there is a gezera lest the means of
transport go outside the techum and people get out.

On the other hand, those who permit, such as the Mishpachat Uzziel (see Shut
Piskei Uzziel B'Shailot HaZman siman 13, Shut Mishpat Uzziel Krach 1 Orech
Chaim siman 9) only do so in a situation where not only is the transport
owned by and driven by non-Jews, but the transport also does not go to any
place where there are Jewish settlements because in such a case, the bus
company and driver will be intending to carry Jews.  So it is only "in a
place where all the dwellers are not Jewish, is it permitted for a Jew to
travel on a [electric or steam] wagon of non-Jews, when it is accustomed to
go inside the city on condition that they do not need to pay money for a
ticket to travel on Shabbat or Yom Tov.  And even this is only for the sake
of a going of mitzvah, like going to the synagogue".  

So again the weight that might be added by the Jew in such a circumstance
(and of course he might be only one person of two on the bus that day), does
not factor into the calculations.

I suspect here that the divisions therefore come down to the same ones that
are found by bicycles.  With the Sephardi poskim by and large railing that
one cannot make new gezeros - although I think most these days follow Rav
Ovadiah who says that while m'ikar hadin bicycles are mutar on shabbas, the
minhag has spread to regard their use as uvda d'chol, and therefore one
shouldn't go against the minhag and use them.  Whereas the Ashkenazi poskim
quite happily bring gezeros that cannot be found in the Talmud (because the
items in question did not exist at the time of the Talmud, such as  a
prohibition on bicycles lest you need to fix it, or because it might make
grooves in the ground).  And indeed the Tzitz Eliezer follows his discourse
on trains  in the teshuva in Chelek 1 siman 21, with his comments on
bicycles.

> Further, assuming that there is no problem, suppose one boards within 
> an eruv, and gets off also within an eruv, but the two eruvin don't 
> touch each other.  Obviously one may carry on to the bus, and one may 
> carry on the bus, but may one carry off the bus what one brought on 
> board, and carry it around in the second eruv?

<<My first thought was to compare this to one who is carrying from a reshus
harabim to mekom petur, and then from that mekom petur to further on in the
reshus harabim. That's assur, but RZS's scenario could be several levels of
d'rabbanan down, especially if the two eruvin *do* touch each other.>>

Of course, if you hold like Rav Uzziel that it is only permitted where there
are no Jewish inhabitants, having two eruvin on the line eliminates the
permissibility of using the bus completely.  But leaving that aside.  Why
would it be a makom patur?  A bus is daled al daled at least, and generally
not more than ten tefachim off the ground.  So prima facie that is a  reshus
hayachid.  But surely the area inside the bus was never in the contemplation
of those who made the eruv (it was probably in some bus station miles away
when the eruv was made and each bein hashmashos, and there is no consent
from the owner of the bus to join in the eruv).  So would it not be
prohibited to carry from the street into the bus and back again?  

<<But then I realized that it might be assur even to bring the object onto
the bus to begin with. If one knows that the bus will bring the object
outside the eruv, is that any better than placing a ball on the ground, on a
hill, in a manner where the ball will definitely roll out of the eruv?>>

I think the bus has to be its own reshus -even if it is one that moves.  If
it was parked within the eruv most of the time, when it was not going, and
particularly ben hashmashos maybe it might be different.

>Akiva Miller

Regards Chana