What means "doing good" on the Sabbath?

[mystic]

Situations arise every now and then on the Sabbath which makes it very difficult for me to discern between what is considered to be doing good and what's not. Couple examples would be first, a customer of mine [Nick] who is a DJ came to me one Saturday morning asking if I can help fix his laptop which he needs for a gig that night.

Since his livelihood depends on that I reluctantly agreed to help but told him I cannot accept payment for helping him on that day. Point is, should have helped him or not?

Next there is Kelvin, close friend of mine since childhood so for almost 50 years now. His birthday party is coming up next Saturday. He has no one to connect his music equipment on that day and it cannot be connected the day before since it will be held outside and he's worried about theft. He knows I will not be attending his Birthday party but I have to make a decision whether to go hook up his equipment in the morning time and leave or not help at all?

Since God requires mercy and not sacrifice, that is suggesting to me to help him but what should be done here please?

[alon]

Aug 22, 2020 4:12:15 GMT -8 mystic said:

Situations arise every now and then on the Sabbath which makes it very difficult for me to discern between what is considered to be doing good and what's not. Couple examples would be first, a customer of mine [Nick] who is a DJ came to me one Saturday morning asking if I can help fix his laptop which he needs for a gig that night.

Since his livelihood depends on that I reluctantly agreed to help but told him I cannot accept payment for helping him on that day. Point is, should have helped him or not?

Next there is Kelvin, close friend of mine since childhood so for almost 50 years now. His birthday party is coming up next Saturday. He has no one to connect his music equipment on that day and it cannot be connected the day before since it will be held outside and he's worried about theft. He knows I will not be attending his Birthday party but I have to make a decision whether to go hook up his equipment in the morning time and leave or not help at all?

Since God requires mercy and not sacrifice, that is suggesting to me to help him but what should be done here please?

I usually ask several questions that help me make up my mind:

Is this a good deed? Obviously the answer must be "yes."

Does this glorify God? The guy whose computer you fixed did in a way, because he saw you were serious enough about your faith to accept no payment. On the other hand, those "gigs" seldom are events that in any way glorify God.

Will this set a trend? When word gets out, you may be inundated with requests for free "emergency" work on Shabbat.

Is this a true "emergency," or did they just procrastinate too long? Usually it's the latter, but emergencies do arise suddenly and without warning.

Can I help them on another day? Often you can.

Is there anyone else who can help? Often there is.

I'd have probably said no to the DJ gig. Make it a strict policy that you don't work on Shabbat, and stick to it. Because if people find out you'll bend the rules, they will come to expect it of you.

But there will be exceptions. Kevin sounds like a true emergency, however it is a birthday party, which he knows you don't believe in. But as long as he will have everything ready for you when you get there so you are not doing any more than is necessary, I'd probably say do it. Just don't make a habbit of it (more to the point, don't let him make a habit of abusing your mercy).

But we are commanded to rest on the Sabbath, and the only way people will respect that is if you honor it. So almost always the answer is going to be no, at least for me.

Dan C

 

[mystic]

I had told kelvin I can stop by on the Friday to hook up everything then all he needs to do is remember where 2 cords from his equipment plugs into his speakers, however problem with that is after hooking up equipment then the settings needs to be tweaked for both quality and especially safety purposes so for those reasons always best to be done prior to the event.

Maybe I should at least try to do the Friday option first then only if he should run into an issue on Saturday then I can go take care of that issue and leave immediately.

All great points to consider on the pc repair situation thanks!

[mystic]

Yeah always something here on the Sabbath for me to break the rules. My mom just told me she needs some soup since she has left to get a tooth extracted.

[alon]

Aug 22, 2020 7:27:08 GMT -8 mystic said:

Yeah always something here on the Sabbath for me to break the rules. My mom just told me she needs some soup since she has left to get a tooth extracted.

That I think would qualify as a mitzvah.

Dan C