781. Not Renting Beasts of Burden

Shabbos 20:2

The Torah explicitly prohibits performing acts of labor through an animal on Shabbos. Exodus 20:10 says, “Do not perform any labor on Shabbos: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant and your animal.” This forbids doing things like plowing through an animal. Since violating Shabbos is a capital offense, one who violates this law is not punished with lashes.

Shabbos 20:3

A Jew is not permitted to lend or rent a large animal to a non-Jew in order to perform labor with it on Shabbos because a Jew is commanded to have his animals rest. The Sages prohibited selling a large animal to non-Jew as a preventive measure against the possibility of lending or renting one to perform labor on Shabbos. If a Jew should make such a sale, he is penalized by having to buy back the animal, even if he must pay ten times its value. Even an animal that is injured (and therefore unable to work) may not be sold to a non-Jew but one is permitted an animal to a non-Jew through a dealer because a dealer would not lend or rent animals.