Let's take a completely hypothetical scenario: It is Friday afternoon and you've been at the hospital since Monday. The plan from the beginning was to be discharged on Friday. You are at a hospital that is 30 minutes from home (non-rush hour), so you haven't been home the entire week. You have been "bathing" in the rest room by the elevators (you are only the care giver, after all; not the patient, so you don't want to use the shower in the patient room) using the thinnest paper towels known to mankind. They've been telling you all day that the patient is ready to be discharged; all tests and procedures completed/successful/passed. Only waiting for the PA (physician assistant) to finish the paperwork, but he is stuck in surgery. Sundown is at 7:50 PM, you should have been out by 2:00 PM; it is now 3:00... 4:00... 5:00 PM. No worries; sure, it's now rush hour so the commute home is closer to 45 minutes or an hour, sure you haven't bathed properly nor had more than a single change of clothes all week; but, heck, friends have prepared Shabbos and dropped off the food at your house. All you need to do is get in the door before 7:50 PM. Lots of time. You even davened mincha already, just in case there were delays. 5:07 PM, the surgeon himself walks in (that's good news, right?) and says, "You know, I didn't like the way you looked this morning. I think you need to stay."
So... hypothetically speaking, you have just two hours and 43 minutes to go from zero to Shabbos. It's a really good idea to think about what needs to happen if you are ever in that situation before you are ever in that situation. So here goes.
First, you need food. The kosher items on the menu won't actually help you, unless you want to eat cold cereal, milk or yogurt, and fresh fruits all Shabbos. It's an option, just not a great option. Fortunately, there is a Jewel with a kosher section less than a mile away (hypothetically). So be sure you get meat, grape juice (or wine), challah rolls, and sides. And dessert; it's Shabbos, after all. No problem.
Well... two issues. Where are you going to keep that food? It will need to be refrigerated and you can't open a fridge on Shabbos because of the light. Even more, meat that is left with non-Jews (or nonreligious Jews, actually) needs to have two seals on it to ensure there has been no tampering. What to do? For the first issue, it is important to remember that the light going on in the fridge is an unintended (and, in this case, undesirable), but inevitable consequence of opening the door. That is only rabbinically prohibited. Asking a non-Jew to do something for you on Shabbos is also only rabbinically prohibited. R' Moshe has a responsa that one is certainly permitted to ask a non-Jew to perform an action on Shabbos that will only result in a forbidden labor from being transgressed as an unintended, inevitable consequence. Of course, you need to be ensure the staff member you are asking is not Jewish.
Great! Except, of course, that the meat will be out of your sight and control. You could have only dairy all Shabbos, but that is not much more of a Shabbos option than the cold cereal and milk. As it turns out, in a שעת הדחק/emergency/stressful situation, there is a leniency: Arrange the package so that you will be able to tell by visual inspection if there has been any tampering. Use a piece of tape, arrange the meat in a recognizable shape, tie a string, etc. Then, each time you retrieve your food. just check with your secret spy decoder ring and you will be fine. (The truth is, a hospital is a perfect environment for this, as everyone is double and triple trained to not mess with things.)
Hot coffee... forget it. They don't keep an urn in the hospital and using anything -- even water -- cooked up on Shabbos, even by a non-Jew, even though they did it for themselves, is problematic. I would have hypothetically gotten cold brew if I had not hypothetically forgotten.
Lights -- the modern hospital is a veritable maze of automatic sensors that turn on lights and open doors. By this time you probably know where you can go, but it's worth a quick and efficient -- time is running short -- double check. Ask a nurse for tape (there is so much tape in a hospital!) and tape the switches for the bathroom light and the light furthest from the bed.
Have a chat with the nurses and other care staff. Ask them to please not touch the taped light switches. Assure them that this is all about what you can do, not them! They can do whatever they need to do to perform their job. Remind them, though, that you would appreciate if they turn off any lights they turn on. Remind yourself that you will not be able to ask them to turn off lights on Shabbos, so you'll remind them with greater gentleness and serious attention.
You usually cannot light candles. If you have nothing else, you (or the patient, if she is the wife) should just turn off that one light you want left on and then turn it back on (before Shabbos, obviously). No bracha, though, as the lights are connected to the main power grid, over which you have no control. On the other hand, since you are at the store anyway, pick up a flashlight. Since flashlights run on battery, they have a defined source and therefore you may make a bracha on the kindling of the flashlight. LED flashlights are better for Shabbos, as they don't get hot. (You can't use that LED flashlight for havdala, though; as will, בעזרת השם, be discussed further in an upcoming TftD.)
Now get ready for the best Shabbos of your life. How can that possibly be the best Shabbos of your life, you are wondering? I'll tell you the same thing I would have hypothetically told the nurse as as I was running out to the Jewel for my last minute (literally!) Shabbos preparations: It is difficult to know if one is celebrating Shabbos because it is so fun or because it is the fulfilling one's obligation to act in accordance with the Will of the Creator. This Shabbos, though, is obviously entirely and only being observed because it is a Heavenly decree.
Life just doesn't get much better than that.
So... hypothetically speaking, you have just two hours and 43 minutes to go from zero to Shabbos. It's a really good idea to think about what needs to happen if you are ever in that situation before you are ever in that situation. So here goes.
First, you need food. The kosher items on the menu won't actually help you, unless you want to eat cold cereal, milk or yogurt, and fresh fruits all Shabbos. It's an option, just not a great option. Fortunately, there is a Jewel with a kosher section less than a mile away (hypothetically). So be sure you get meat, grape juice (or wine), challah rolls, and sides. And dessert; it's Shabbos, after all. No problem.
Well... two issues. Where are you going to keep that food? It will need to be refrigerated and you can't open a fridge on Shabbos because of the light. Even more, meat that is left with non-Jews (or nonreligious Jews, actually) needs to have two seals on it to ensure there has been no tampering. What to do? For the first issue, it is important to remember that the light going on in the fridge is an unintended (and, in this case, undesirable), but inevitable consequence of opening the door. That is only rabbinically prohibited. Asking a non-Jew to do something for you on Shabbos is also only rabbinically prohibited. R' Moshe has a responsa that one is certainly permitted to ask a non-Jew to perform an action on Shabbos that will only result in a forbidden labor from being transgressed as an unintended, inevitable consequence. Of course, you need to be ensure the staff member you are asking is not Jewish.
Great! Except, of course, that the meat will be out of your sight and control. You could have only dairy all Shabbos, but that is not much more of a Shabbos option than the cold cereal and milk. As it turns out, in a שעת הדחק/emergency/stressful situation, there is a leniency: Arrange the package so that you will be able to tell by visual inspection if there has been any tampering. Use a piece of tape, arrange the meat in a recognizable shape, tie a string, etc. Then, each time you retrieve your food. just check with your secret spy decoder ring and you will be fine. (The truth is, a hospital is a perfect environment for this, as everyone is double and triple trained to not mess with things.)
Hot coffee... forget it. They don't keep an urn in the hospital and using anything -- even water -- cooked up on Shabbos, even by a non-Jew, even though they did it for themselves, is problematic. I would have hypothetically gotten cold brew if I had not hypothetically forgotten.
Lights -- the modern hospital is a veritable maze of automatic sensors that turn on lights and open doors. By this time you probably know where you can go, but it's worth a quick and efficient -- time is running short -- double check. Ask a nurse for tape (there is so much tape in a hospital!) and tape the switches for the bathroom light and the light furthest from the bed.
Have a chat with the nurses and other care staff. Ask them to please not touch the taped light switches. Assure them that this is all about what you can do, not them! They can do whatever they need to do to perform their job. Remind them, though, that you would appreciate if they turn off any lights they turn on. Remind yourself that you will not be able to ask them to turn off lights on Shabbos, so you'll remind them with greater gentleness and serious attention.
You usually cannot light candles. If you have nothing else, you (or the patient, if she is the wife) should just turn off that one light you want left on and then turn it back on (before Shabbos, obviously). No bracha, though, as the lights are connected to the main power grid, over which you have no control. On the other hand, since you are at the store anyway, pick up a flashlight. Since flashlights run on battery, they have a defined source and therefore you may make a bracha on the kindling of the flashlight. LED flashlights are better for Shabbos, as they don't get hot. (You can't use that LED flashlight for havdala, though; as will, בעזרת השם, be discussed further in an upcoming TftD.)
Now get ready for the best Shabbos of your life. How can that possibly be the best Shabbos of your life, you are wondering? I'll tell you the same thing I would have hypothetically told the nurse as as I was running out to the Jewel for my last minute (literally!) Shabbos preparations: It is difficult to know if one is celebrating Shabbos because it is so fun or because it is the fulfilling one's obligation to act in accordance with the Will of the Creator. This Shabbos, though, is obviously entirely and only being observed because it is a Heavenly decree.
Life just doesn't get much better than that.
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