Drinking Hot Water Prepared in a Hotel Kitchen on Shabbos
Question: May a Jewish guest staying at a non-Jewish hotel on Shabbos drink the hot water [or coffee or tea] brewing in the hotel kitchen or dining room?
Discussion: Hot water [or coffee] cooking in the hotel kitchen or dining room is randomly prepared by the non-Jewish kitchen staff for the entire hotel; it is not being prepared exclusively for the need of the Jewish guests. If so, the halacha should be that it is permitted for a Jew to drink that water. As we learned in Chapter 276, if a non-Jew lit a candle for himself or for another non-Jew on Shabbos, it is permitted for a Jew to benefit from that light. It should follow, therefore, that the hot water prepared by the kitchen staff for the benefit of the entire hotel should be permitted for the Jew. Indeed, that is the ruling of some poskim.
But other poskim are more stringent and rule that the Jew may not drink the hot water that was prepared by the non-Jew on Shabbos for the hotel guests. These poskim are concerned that were we to permit the Jew to drink from that water, in the future he may not wait for the non-Jew to heat up water on his own but he may expressly instruct the non-Jew to cook some water for him, thus violating the strict prohibition of amirah l’akum.26
Both views are quoted in Shulchan Aruch27, who rules that one can be lenient only under extenuating circumstances or for the performance of a mitzvah. It follows, therefore, that it is permitted to use water which has been cooked on Shabbos by the non-Jew only if absolutely necessary and only if one is unable to find another source of hot water28.
An exception to the above ruling would be if for some reason a personal relationship was formed between the hotel staff and the Jewish guests staying in the hotel, and the hotel staff is aware that the Jewish guests need hot water. In that case, it is forbidden to drink the hot water even under extenuating circumstances, even if the non-Jew cooked the water for his own benefit and not for the benefit of the Jewish guests. This is because in this case that is a much greater likelihood that the kitchen staff will prepare water explicitly for the Jewish guests, an activity which is forbidden according to all views29.
The halachah will also be completely different if the non-Jewish hotel is hosting only [or mostly] Jewish guests, such as at a convention or Shabbaton. In that case, it is forbidden for the Jewish guests [or caterer] to instruct the non-Jewish staff to cook water for them on Shabbos. Even if the non-Jewish staff was not instructed to cook additional water but on their own realized that the water level is low and must be replenished, it is forbidden for the Jewish guests to partake of that water for the rest of Shabbos, and even after Shabbos it may not be drunk until the time of bichdei sheya’asu (not before enough time has elapsed that it could have been done) is over30.
26. Although these poskim also agree that a Jew may benefit from the candle lit by a non-Jew for his own benefit, still they maintain that when it comes to matters of food [and beverage] the desire to eat [or drink] is so intense that there is a greater likelihood that the Jew will want even more food or drink and will come to directly instruct the non-Jew to cook for him on Shabbos (Mishnah Berurah 325:16, as explained by Rav S.Z. Auerbach, quoted in Shulchan Shelomo 325:10).
27. O.C. 325:4, concerning kosher bread that was prepared by a non-Jew for his own needs.
28. See Chayei Adam 63:2-3 and Chelkas Yaakov 1:36. See Kaf ha-Chayim 325:35 who advises to be stringent.
29. Based on Mishnah Berurah 325: 66. See Aruch ha-Shulchan 325:21 who is more lenient.
30. See O.C. 307:20.