Conservative & Masorti Jews views of Shabbat, driving on Shabbat, and men's club Shabbats.

Conservative Judaism affirms that driving is generally not allowed on Shabbat. However, responding to the geographic dispersion of Jews in America, and the need for Jews to attend prayer services, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) examined this issue in 1950, and the Va'ad Halakha of the Masorti movement examined this issue in 1991. Four papers have been accepted.

(1) "Responsum on the Sabbath", stated that "...participation in public service on the Sabbath is in the light of modern conditions to be regarded as a great mitsvah, since it is indispensable to the preservation of the religious life of American Jewry. Therefore it is our considered opinion that the positive value involved in the participation in public worship on the Sabbath outweighs the .. value of refraining from riding in an automobile..."

(2) "The Sabbath Halachah - Travel and the use of Electricity", strongly discouraged driving on Shabbat as a clear violation of halachah, but noted that "There may be cases where an individual will be unable to live accessibly close to the synagogue. Here we shall be faced with one of the dilemmas confronted by any moral system - a conflict of values. Given a choice between travel on the Sabbath or the total denial of opportunities of worship on the Sabbath and festivals, we would regard traveling as the less objectionable alternative. On the other hand there exists no objective standard by which to judge."

(3) The only driving considered in either paper was that which is directly to and from the synagogue, and only to prevent a person from being cut off from communal Sabbath worship. A clarification of these teshuvot was issued in the paper "Travel on the Sabbath", a statement unanimously adopted by the CJLS on 2/17/60. The statement reads:

The Sabbath is the cardinal institution of Judaism; it is the principal opportunity afforded us by our tradition for the hallowing of life. Amidst the pressures of life in our time, the Sabbath offers us not merely a period of tranquility and release from tension, it offers us also a chance for renewal in our moral and spiritual commitments and it enables us to cultivate fellowship with God in public worship and personal meditation.

But the Sabbath cannot function as the great day of the Lord unless we consciously "make a fence around it". The most important of the fences we must make to safeguard the Sabbath as an oasis of peace and of holiness is the avoidance of travel. It was the prophet Isaiah, the great prophet of religious inwardness, who defined for us the way of keeping the Sabbath. His words in chapter 58:13,14 are read in the synagogue on the Day of Atonement:

"If you refrain from your travels on the Sabbath,

from pursuing your business on My holy day,

and call the Sabbath a delight,

and the day hallowed by the Lord glorious,

and you honor it by not going on your accustomed journeys

and transacting your usual business

and speaking ordinary speech,

then you will feel delight in the Lord,

and you will enjoy the heritage of Jacob your father.

Thus has the Lord spoken."

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards voted on a previous occasion to exempt riding to the synagogue from the usual prohibition of travel on the Sabbath. The view of the Committee was expressed in two distinct opinions: One stressed the need of lifting the prohibition as indispensable under modern conditions where people live in widely scattered areas and often at great distances from the synagogue The other took the view that such exemption was an emergency measure which the individual might make when in his conscience he knows that no alternative exists, stressing the values that would be lost by travel even in such instance.

But both opinions limit this exemption to the need of reaching the synagogue for attendance at worship. This does not include travel for other ends. It does not include travel for social purposes; nor does it include travel to the synagogue in order to attend a Bar Mitzvah ceremony or reception, for the motivation here is not the service of God but the honor of man. The Sabbath is best observed within the limited radius of one's home or - when on a journey - within the limited radius of whatever one's quarters one occupies as a temporary home. It is to be observed by withdrawal from ordinary pursuits, and by the cultivation in family fellowship of spiritual pursuits, chiefly attendance at the synagogue for the sake of worship and renewal of faith in God and in His providence.

These teshuvot can be found in Mordecai Waxman's "Tradition and Change", and also in "Proceedings of the CJLS 1927-1970: Volume III", pages 1109-1190, which also contains a transcription of the RA's debate on this issue.

(4) The Va'ad Halakha of the Masorti movement re-examined these decisions in light of modern day conditions in Israel. In "Riding to the Synagogue on Shabbat" they conclude that the reasons for the lenient teshuvah do not apply. "In those days most Jews in the United States worked on Shabbat, did not pray in general, did not know how to pray alone at home and lived at great distances from the nearest synagogue. Thus, prayer at the synagogue on Shabbat was the only remnant of their Shabbat observance. This is not the case in Israel today where almost no one works on Shabbat, where every Jew can open a siddur and pray if he so desires and where there is a synagogue in every neighborhood. We therefore agree with the minority that it is forbidden to ride to the synagogue on Shabbat."

The entire Hebrew text of the responsa, and and English summary, is available at this website:

http://www.masortiresponsa.com/

To summarize their summary, some of the reaons that they forbid driving on Shabbat include:

(a) It is forbidden as a shevut or rabbinic prohibition lest the car break down and he be forced to fix it and then he may transgress both biblical and rabbinic prohibitions. (b) Any item, which may not be used on Shabbat is considered "muktzeh" and may therefore not be touched or carried. When one drives a car, one normally touches a wallet, money, a credit card and other forms of "muktzeh". In addition, one frequently buys gas, which is also forbidden on Shabbat. It is therefore forbidden to drive on Shabbat, because it will lead to carrying and touching muktzeh. (c) Another type of "shevut" is "uvdin d'hol" or weekday activities. In other words, Shabbat should not look and feel like a weekday. There is nothing more weekday-like than driving a car. Shevut is also an activity, which may lead to biblically forbidden labors. Driving may lead to biblical prohibitions such as carrying outside of the eruv, commercial and agricultural transport, writing, building, fishing and more. Thus even if driving were biblically permitted it would be forbidden because of shevut. (d) Public prayer is not a biblical requirement. It is either a rabbinic requirement or simply a recommended form of prayer and can therefore not push aside the biblical prohibition of starting a car on Shabbat. (e) The Masorti movement wishes to create kehillot (communities), not just synagogues. It is impossible to create a community when every family lives a great distance from every other family, and in order to create a community which observes the Shabbat together, its members must live in close proximity to each other.

The Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs  (FJMC) has been running men's club Shabbats for a number of years; at the simplest level these are opportunities for a Conservative synagogue's men's club to lead Shabbat services. However, they are also much more. They are a time of celebration, a time to rejoice in their accomplishments, and alliance with other groups throughout the FJMC. It is an ideal forum for demonstrating the important and vital role your men's club plays in your congregation and community. Their on-line guides, available for free download, show how to set up your own men's club Shabbat, and give study materials for themes of relevance to modern Jewish men, such as:

One theme in the men's club Shabbat guide is based on the second sentence: get yourself a friend [or a companion]. Commentators explain that each of us needs a companion with whom we eat, drink, and study Tanakh and Mishnah. This theme was selected because friendship and companionship are crucial aspects of a men's club; it encourages each club to re-consider its members' social needs the often-unfulfilled needs of men for deeper friendships and what your club can do about it. Many other topics are included as well. The Men's club Shabbat page can be found here: http://www.fjmc.org/mensclubshabbat.html