4796 —איסור הנסיעה באניות ישראליות המפליגות בשבת

B"H, 2 Marcheshvan, 5717

Brooklyn.

The veteran Chassid, G‑d-fearing man, distinguished and honored, etc., our teacher Rabbi Y., may he live

Shalom u'Vrachah!

In reply to your letter of 28 Tishrei, in which you write that you are preparing to travel, at a good and auspicious hour, to our Holy Land, may it be rebuilt and established, and you ask whether the report is correct that it is forbidden to travel on Israeli ships^[1] which continue their voyage on the holy Shabbos as well.

As I have written at length elsewhere, the way the ships are operated in our time leaves no room for doubt.

Traveling on Shabbos on Israeli ships is an absolute prohibition. Moreover, it is a public desecration of Shabbos, done defiantly. It also involves a shocking desecration of G‑d's Name before the eyes of all the nations. And all the above applies even when the ship sets out at the very beginning of the week^[2].

As for what you write, that through your traveling on the said ship our Holy Land will gain a number of dollars to be used for its existence and development —

— apparently you do not know that this is one of the reasons given by those who want people to work, may it never be, on the holy Shabbos in all the factories and fields in Eretz Yisrael. That way they would earn far more money than through the ships —

We have nothing but what our Torah tells us: that through the desecration of Shabbos, not only is nothing added to existence and building, but on the contrary, "people dwindle and the roads become desolate" (Shabbos 33a)^[3]. Our Sages also said: "Jerusalem was destroyed only because they desecrated Shabbos in it," etc. (ibid. 119b).

If you desire the existence of Eretz Yisrael, and surely you mourn and grieve over its destruction, it is obvious that you will not add to the destruction through actions such as the above.

May it be G‑d's will that in your days and in ours the third saying of our Sages^[4] be fulfilled in practice (Yerushalmi Taanis, ch. 1, end of halachah 1): "If the Jewish people would keep one Shabbos properly, the son of David would come immediately." And with an addition in Shemos Rabbah (end of ch. 28 [as printed]): Why? "Because it is equal to all the mitzvos."

With blessing that you report good news regarding the above,

M. Schneerson

In the Bavli (Shabbos 118b) it says "two Shabbosos kept according to their laws." This does not contradict the saying in the Yerushalmi Taanis cited above, as the Alter Rebbe explained in his Likkutei Torah, Parshas Behar, beginning of the discourse "Es Shabsosai Tishmoru." See there.

Publisher's notes

Printed in Likkutei Sichos vol. 11, p. 356, and completed from a photocopy of the letter.

As I have written at length (שכתבתי בארוכה): above, vol. 13, letter 4555, and the sources noted there. See also below, letters 4811, 4963, 5009, 5313.

May it be G‑d's will (ויהי רצון): regarding what follows, see also above, vol. 13, letter 4596.

Notes

[1] Israeli ships (אניות ישראליות): the ships of the Israeli shipping line (Zim), which continued their voyages on Shabbos, with the Jewish crew desecrating Shabbos on board. In these years the Rebbe repeatedly spoke out against traveling on them.

[2] Even when the ship sets out at the beginning of the week (גם כשהאני' מתחילה בנסיעתה אפילו בתחלת השבוע): one may not permit it on the grounds that someone who sets out early in the week and is overtaken by Shabbos on the way is allowed to continue (based on the law "one may not set sail less than three days before Shabbos," Shabbos 19a). On a ship whose Jewish crew works on Shabbos, every passenger traveling on Shabbos becomes a partner to the public desecration taking place on it.

[3] People dwindle and the roads become desolate (בנ"א מתמעטין והדרכים משתוממין): בעון שבועת שוא ושבועת שקר וחילול השם וחילול שבת חיה רעה רבה ובהמה כלה ובני אדם מתמעטין והדרכים משתוממין, "for the sin of vain oaths, false oaths, desecration of G‑d's Name and desecration of Shabbos, wild beasts multiply, domestic animals perish, people dwindle and the roads become desolate" (Shabbos 33a). The claim that the ships' revenue will add to the "existence and building" of the Land is answered: the Torah tells us that Shabbos desecration brings the very opposite.

[4] The third saying of our Sages (מאמרז"ל השלישי): after the two sayings above — that Shabbos desecration causes decline and destruction — the Rebbe brings a third saying about Shabbos, opposite in content: that keeping one Shabbos properly brings the Redemption. Shemos Rabbah (25:12) adds the reason: "because it is equal to all the mitzvos."

Summary

This letter rules that traveling on Israeli ships that sail on Shabbos is forbidden — a public desecration of Shabbos and a chillul Hashem — even if the voyage begins early in the week. To the claim that the fare helps the Land, it answers from the Sages that Shabbos desecration destroys, while keeping Shabbos brings Moshiach.