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Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions
- Shabbat and Holidays
- Laws of Shabbat
- The Melachot
Answer: S’char Shabbat (pay for permitted services one provided on Shabbat) is forbidden Rabbinically like other commercial activity, lest one come to write (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 306:4; Mishna Berura ad loc. 16). The direct prohibition is on the worker receiving pay (therefore, a Jew may pay a non-Jew but may not be paid by a non-Jew), but it is forbidden to give money to one who may not receive it (Mishna Berura 306:21).
The most common way to allow receiving money for work done on Shabbat is through havla’ah. That means having the Shabbat-related money "swallowed up" by combining it with weekday pay, as pay for a period of work that includes Shabbat (Shulchan Aruch ibid.; Nedarim 37a-b).
Poskim point out that "havla’ah units" are determined not by payment installments but by the period of employment. The period of employment is the time during which there is a commitment to continue the employer-employee relationship. We have dealt In the past (see Living the Halachic Process, vol. V, C-19) with a youth leader, whose employment unit is a year, in which case it is not difficult to give the leader some responsibilities during the week, within the course of the year.
This does not naturally work for the average babysitter, who is hired for an individual time period, which in this case, is entirely on Shabbat (Shemirat Shabbat K’hilchata 28:58; Orchot Shabbat 22:94). However, poskim (ibid.; ibid. (146)) allow one to create a permitted merging of employment units in the following manner. When agreeing upon her working on Shabbat, commit to each other that she will also work in the future during the week. The Orchot Shabbat describes the commitment as being absolute, so that even if you would not want to use her again, you would still have to pay for the second time. The Shemirat Shabbat K’hilchata suffices with an expectation of continuing employment so that if one backs out, the other would have a grievance on the other. It is possible that the difference is that the former refers to artificially creating another, single babysitting session, which then must be binding. In contrast, the Shemirat Shabbat K’hilchata is referring to a naturally ongoing relationship over a period of time, which also may explain why he permits even calculating the pay based on the exact hours worked on Shabbat.
Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions (652)
Rabbi Daniel Mann
525 - Mezuza for a Storage Room
526 - Paying a Babysitter for Work on Shabbat
527 - Making Sure your Check Is Cashed
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There is a machloket whether one can take money for providing a mitzva service on Shabbat (Shulchan Aruch, OC 306:5). While babysitting in and of itself is not considered a mitzva (see Nedarim 37a), if she is hired to enable parents to do a mitzva, it would count as mitzva work (see Bemareh Habazak III:36). However, the havla’ah system, if done properly, is a broader and more clearly accepted leniency.
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