If one forgot to turn out the refrigerator light may one ask a child to
open the refrigerator door?
Refrigerator doors are set up in such a way that when the door is opened
the light comes on. Being that it is something that always takes place,
Rav Shlomo
Zalman Auerbach
ztz”l
prefers to refer to it as a direct action and not as a
p’sik reisha.
Accordingly one may not direct one’s child to open the refrigerator if
the light will be turned on, because one is directing a child to perform
an issur.
This is true of a neighbor’s child and all the more so of one’s own
child.
What then is the solution?
The preferred solution is to have a gentile open the
refrigerator
door.
If we regard the turning on of the light as a
p’sik reisha,
a gentile may perform a
p’sik reisha
on Shabbos. This is
based on a few examples, one of them being the following case:
The Rama
says that we may not instruct a gentile to heat food on Shabbos, but the
solution is to have the gentile place the food on the heater when the
heater is turned off, and by turning on the heater to heat the house
(which a gentile is permitted to do in cold climates) the food will be
heated indirectly – through a
p’sik reisha.
Even if we refer to turning on the light as a direct action (Rav
Shlomo Zalman
above) there is
nevertheless
room to permit a
gentile open the door.
What if there is no gentile available?
One should have a child pull out the refrigerator plug from the socket
when the
refrigerator
motor has stopped.
Since the child is only handling muktze, a d’rabanan, and
it is for the sake of a mitzvah of the Shabbos meal, there is
room to permit such an action, when it is done for the essential foods
for the Shabbos meal such as fish and meat, which without one
would not have oneg Shabbos.
This is based on the
Shulchan Aruch HaRav
343:8 which permits using a child to violate an
issur d’rabanan for the sake of a mitzvah provided that it
is not a common occurrence. Needless to say that the plug may not be
returned to the socket.
If I see that my child is about to do an issur
must I prevent him from doing so?
We
learned in the previous shiur that an adult is biblically prohibited
from handing a child an issur. In contrast, one is not biblically
obliged to prevent a child from performing or from partaking of an
issur when doing so for his own benefit.
However, Chazal
oblige parents
to educate
their children in the ways of the Torah. If a child is of an age that he
understands not to do something when told, the parents must educate him
in that vein.
Would it not depend on the age of the child?
Absolutely. If a one
year old is turning a light on and off on Shabbos there is no obligation
to prevent him from doing so, because the child does not understand what
the parent wants from him. (It is possible that when other children see
that the child is not prevented from doing ‘chilul Shabbos’ it
will have an adverse effect on their own Shabbos observance and there is
room to find alternative entertainment for the child, but the child
per se need not be prevented).
A child who begins
to understand the word “Shabbos” and associates it with not doing
certain actions should be trained in the observance of Shabbos.
What is the halacha with regards to other
people’s children?
The Mechaber
holds that only a
child’s father (and perhaps the mother) need educate his child but one
is not obliged to educate another person’s child. The Rama cites
an opinion who holds that everyone is obliged to educate everybody’s
children. The Mishna Berura
sets the middle path
with the Chayei Adam who says that one must prevent other
people’s children from violating an issur d’oraisso but not an
issur d’rabanan. Although it is advisable to other children as well
that it is Shabbos today.
Accordingly, if one
sees children in the street pulling leaves off a tree
one should tell them
that it is ossur on Shabbos. If one sees children carrying sticks
and stones to play with, since muktze is only an issur
d’rabanan one is not obliged to ‘educate’ them.
