[Avodah] free public transport on Shabbos/Yomtov

Zev Sero zev at sero.name
Tue Jun 9 16:52:32 PDT 2020


On 9/6/20 7:36 pm, Chana Luntz via Avodah wrote:
> I think the analysis comes from the various discussions of using a light 
> lit by a non Jew.  If the light was lit for the Jew, then one is 
> forbidden to use it. [...]    If they set up
> and run the line in part to service Jews (eg they have a stop in Golders 
> Green), the fact that they also do it for non Jews all the rest of the 
> way along the line may well be irrelevant.

But in the case of the light, if 51% of the people in the room are 
nochrim then the Jews are allowed to use it.  Since the majority of 
passengers on pretty much any bus line in chu"l are nochrim, it 
shouldn't matter if the line passes through some areas where there are a 
lot of Jews. Indeed it shouldn't even matter if it passes through some 
areas where the majority of potential passengers are Jews, since they're 
still a minority of the total population along the line.

I mean, once the bus is running along that route it has to have stops 
every so often, because that's what bus lines do.  It would be odd for 
the bus to go an excessive time without a stop just because it's passing 
through a Jewish area.  And those non-Jewish passengers who want to get 
off there would complain pretty loudly about it and call it racism.

-- 
Zev Sero            Wishing everyone a *healthy* and happy summer
zev at sero.name       Seek Jerusalem's peace; may all who love you prosper


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