Keeping a Website Open on Shabbos
Question: Must a Shabbos-observant business shut down its website on Shabbos and Yom Tov?
Discussion: The Torah command to keep Shabbos specifically prohibits one’s minor children, servants and animals from performing forbidden Labors on behalf of their parents or masters.[1] But the Torah does not prohibit one’s tools or machines from working on Shabbos on behalf of their owner or operator. It is for this reason that we permit our light fixtures to light our homes and our air conditioners to cool them, since it is permitted for machines to “desecrate” Shabbos. Min ha-Torah, therefore, there is no reason why a website would not be allowed to operate on Shabbos. Websites are completely automated and require no human intervention. They are no different from any other machine which is set to operate before Shabbos and continues to run automatically throughout Shabbos.
There are, however, a number of Rabbinic restrictions that may — or may not — apply to operating a website. There are three possible concerns:
Mekach u’memkar
In order to avoid potential Shabbos violations such as Writing, the Rabbis forbade all types of business transactions on Shabbos, even if no contract will be drawn up and no money will change hands. This edict, known as gezeiras mekach u’memkar, prohibits any kinyan (transfer of ownership from one party to the next) — including selling, buying, gift-giving or rendering an item hefker[2] — to take place on Shabbos. An argument can be made, therefore, that if a business website offers items for sale and the sale is consummated on Shabbos, it should not be allowed to operate, since a business transaction — a sale — will take place on Shabbos on behalf of the owner.
But on the other hand, the transaction is being completed by a machine without any active involvement or knowledge of the website owner. We do not find a halachic requirement to stop someone else from transacting business on one’s behalf on Shabbos. Indeed, there is a case in Shulchan Aruch which implies otherwise — that it is permitted l’chatchilah to arrange such a transaction before Shabbos:
Shulchan Aruch[3] rules that it is permitted to give a non-Jew money before Shabbos so that he may purchase items for a Jew, provided that he does not instruct the non-Jew to buy the item specifically on Shabbos. Similarly, it is permitted before Shabbos to give a non-Jew clothing to sell on his behalf, provided that he does not instruct him to sell the clothing on Shabbos specifically.
Apparently it is Shulchan Aruch’s opinion that as long as the restrictions against amirah l’akum are adhered to, it is permitted for business to be transacted on Shabbos on behalf of a Jew,[4] since the Rabbis forbade only an active transaction. They did not forbid a “passive transaction” from taking place.[5]
Allowing a website to operate on Shabbos and conduct business on behalf of its owner is quite similar to this case. Business is being conducted by means of a machine. Passively, the Jewish owner is engaged in business, but passive business, apparently, is not prohibited on Shabbos.
Sechar Shabbos
As part of the Rabbinic decree against engaging in business on Shabbos, the Rabbis also prohibited profiting from an activity engaged in on Shabbos. Even if the profit is being generated by a permitted activity such as babysitting, it is still prohibited to collect the profits from an activity that was performed on Shabbos.[6] Even money earned from property rentals on Shabbos may not be collected by the Shabbos-observant owner, since these are considered Shabbos profits.[7] An argument could be made, therefore, that the profits generated by the sale of items on a website on Shabbos may not be collected by the owner.
But this is not the case. The poskim agree that the Rabbis forbade only profits generated from a service (or a rental) rendered on Shabbos. Profits generated from a sale that takes place on Shabbos, such as food which is bought on credit on Shabbos, are permitted.[8] This is because the payment is for goods, not for services, and profits generated from goods are not considered sechar Shabbos.[9] Thus a website owner is permitted to keep his profits from Shabbos sales.
Zilzul Shabbos
There remains the intangible yet crucial issue that allowing a website to operate on Shabbos will cause zilzul Shabbos — a desecration of the sanctity of Shabbos, since business will be conducted seven days a week with no regard for Shabbos and Yom Tov. Traditionally, a Jew was always cognizant of the fact that Shabbos was a day when business was not conducted and profits were not earned. Allowing business to be conducted on one’s behalf on Shabbos could very well be considered a pirtzah, a “breakdown” and a violation of the spirit of Shabbos. A final decision on this subject should be rendered by the leading poskim of the generation.
[1] Shemos 20:10; Devarim 5:14.
[2] Teshuvos Rav Akiva Eiger 174, quoting Ritva. Other poskim rule that rendering an item hefker is not included in gezeiras mekach u’memkar; see Da’as Torah, O.C. 13:3.
[3] O.C. 307:4.
[4] Indeed, according to the ruling of the Mishnah Berurah, it is even permitted to derive benefit from that item on that very same Shabbos day; see 307:15 and Sha’ar ha-Tziyun 17.
[5] An apparent difficulty with this conclusion arises from a ruling in Teshuvos Rav Akiva Eiger (159). He prohibits, for instance, a pidyon ha-ben transaction from becoming valid on Shabbos, even if the father gave money to the kohen on erev Shabbos with the stipulation that the pidyon ha-ben will go into effect on Shabbos. It seems, therefore, that Rav Akiva Eiger would prohibit a passive transaction from taking place on Shabbos. There is, however, a fundamental difference between Rav Akiva Eiger’s specific case and ours. In his case, the transaction is specifically scheduled for Shabbos (as Shabbos is the correct day for the pidyon ha-ben). In our case, Shabbos was not specifically designated as the time for the sale; the fully automated website is open seven days a week all year long, and whether a transaction takes place on Shabbos, before Shabbos, or after Shabbos is of no consequence whatsoever. In addition, several poskim disagree with Rav Akiva Eiger even in his case; see Maharam Shick, O.C. 131; Har Tzvi, O.C. 126; Igros Moshe, O.C. 3:44.
[6] O.C. 306:4.
[7] Mishnah Berurah 306:19.
[8] See O.C. 323:1-4.
[9] Noda b’Yehudah, Tanina, O.C. 26; Minchas Yitzchak 3:34; Rav S.Z. Auerbach (Shemiras Shabbos k’Hilchasah 29, note 70).