1,247. Justifying Not Traveling on Shabbos

Hilchos Kiddush HaChodesh 3:3

Just as the witnesses who saw the new moon could do things not normally permitted on Shabbos, so could the character witnesses who come to vouch for the witnesses if the court is not familiar with them. Even if only one person can vouch for the witnesses, he should violate Shabbos in order to accompany them because of the possibility that he may meet another person who can join him in this testimony.

Hilchos Kiddush HaChodesh 3:4

If a witness who saw the moon on a Friday night is ill, he may be brought to the court on a donkey. If he is bedridden, he may be carried in his bed. If there’s an ambush on the way, the witnesses may carry weapons to defend themselves. If the distance they have to travel is long, they may bring food for the journey. Even if they saw the moon looking large so that others must have seen it as well, one should not justify not going in order to avoid breaking the normal Shabbos laws. Rather, everyone who saw the new moon, is qualified to testify as a witness, and whose journey is within that night and the next day or less is obligated to violate Shabbos in order to go testify.