Shabbos goy


A Shabbos goy, Shabbat goy or Shabbes goy is a non-Jew who performs certain types of work which Jewish religious law prohibits a Jew from doing on the Sabbath.

Term

The term is a combination of the word "Shabbos" meaning the Sabbath day of rest, and goy, which literally means "a nation" but colloquially means a "non-Jew".

Description

A shabbos goy is a non-Jew who performs certain activities which Jewish religious law prohibits a Jew from doing on the Sabbath.
There are numerous restrictions and certain types of work are prohibited, such as contractor work. The rabbis ruled that asking a non-Jew to violate Shabbat for oneself is generally forbidden, but under certain circumstances the rabbis allowed it, especially to heat the oven on winter days in northern countries. A shabbos goy is not needed where life is at stake or in the case where there would be a reasonable chance of danger to life.
Originally, the job of the shabbos goy was often given to a poor woman, and the compensation was in the form of challah; later, money was given, although not on Shabbat or not directly given to the worker, due to halakhic restrictions on hiring workers on Shabbat.
According to Ronald J. Eisenberg, "Today the proliferation of electronic timers has virtually eliminated the need for the Shabbos goy, who once played an important role, especially in the shtetls of Eastern Europe."

Notable examples

Notable examples of famous people who acted as shabbos goyim include Maxim Gorky, Floyd B. Olson, Harry S. Truman, Peter Hammill, Colin Powell, Mario Cuomo, Martin Scorsese, Ralph Branca, and the adolescent Elvis Presley.