Hello,
What is the status of food products that weren’t cooked on Shabbat but transported through a place with no Eruv or by car by a Jew (or even non Jew)?
I read a source saying that if the food didn’t have any change on it then it is permitted since the only thing done wrong was the transportation of it, but none was done to the food or item itself.
The reason I ask this is because of friends or member of the community that are not full Shabbat observants and sometimes they go to other Jewish houses by car or in places with no Eruv and bring food gifts. This is as well related to ba’alei teshuvah that try to follow as much as they can and they may be failing in this particular area. The Jew that transported the food in this particular situation (growing step by step) can eat it?
Thank you for your answer. I want to complement the question with two concepts that I don’t fully understand and whose application seems to became unlimited.
1. The first one is the concept of “mitzvah haba’ah be’aveyra”. As far as I understand from the Talmud this just applies when the Mitzvah is an Averah at the same time or when you are using an stolen object. For example, in the case of someone transporting (by car or by foot) kosher food in a place with no Eruv and then eating it. It seems to me that this principle is not violated because the transportation didn’t do anything to the food itself. The Mitzvah of saying a blessing over the food is not directly related to transport it, but to the status of the food as kosher or not (which depends on flavor and cooking). The same for someone praying on Shabbat in the synagogue after he /she drove to Shul. Driving is not related directly to prayer, the things that invalidate a prayer are other elements (like not having clean hands, etc). Is this a proper understanding or am I missing something?
2. What are the real limitations of “lifne iver”? I think this idea is very difficult to apply nowadays do to the fact that we are all in the path of learning and growing. Just if you are a Tzadik you can fully apply this Mitzvah, in my opinion.
1) Mitzvah haba’ah be’aveirah
It’s not a catch-all. It applies when the very mitzvah is realized through the aveirah (the cheftza of the mitzvah is created by, or defined via, the sin) — classic example: a stolen lulav/etrog on Sukkot. But if the aveirah is separate from the mitzvah — e.g., someone drove on Shabbat and then prays, or carried food without an eruv and later makes a beracha — the mitzvah isn’t invalidated. The wrongdoing doesn’t transform the mitzvah-object or act itself.
2) Lifnei iver
The Torah prohibition applies only when you are causing an issur d’Oraita and your help is indispensable (where they couldn’t commit it without you). If any of the following hold, the Torah-level lifnei iver doesn’t apply:
• The underlying act is only derabanan.
• The person could do it without you (your role isn’t indispensable).
• The person’s rav permits it for them (then, for them, it isn’t an aveirah).
• The person is totally non-observant and will certainly do it regardless.
Bottom line: both doctrines are much narrower than people often present. Mitzvah haba’ah be’aveirah addresses a mitzvah performed through the sin; lifnei iver is a Torah prohibition only for enabling a de’oraita that the other party couldn’t otherwise do.
It is not a problem at all.