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Author Andrew Gabriel Roth responds:
Well that's a complicated question to answer but I will try. On the one hand, yes, Shabbat is intended as a day of rest and a set apart day to honor YHWH. On the other hand, we are supposed to pray and honor YHWH EVERY DAY of the week. I would say that if at least some of the day was spent honoring Him in prayer or tzedekah, you need not worry that all the other moments were similarly filled up. "Rest" means not just of the spiritual kind but also emotional and physical, and I find movies very relaxing on Shabbat - but I prefer watching them at home. I do NOT subscribe to the Rabbinic argument that using electricity - completing a circuit - constitutes "building a fire." They try to suggest that the circuit is not completed unless you flip a switch, but that's not true. The electricity is in a circuit whether you turn it on or not. The Gentiles are working at the electric plant - or their machines are - mostly for the betterment of mankind and, in many cases, the saving and preservation of human life that would NOT happen if it were turned off, so Shabbat restrictions don't attach there either.
Now, there are some very fine halachic points to bring to the fore before I answer yes or no:
- No expanding your domain. The word that is translated as "do no REGULAR WORK" is actually malchut, which is better known as "kingdom". The command is not to expand your domain on Shabbat. What that means, basically, is making money in your normal pursuit, i.e. the job you do during the week. So, if I were to play my guitar today that's fine. I'm not a professional musician on a gig. But I couldn't earn money for it. On the other hand, I could play on Shabbat for my own rest/enjoyment.
- No "work" does not mean no effort: It is not a knee jerk reaction against ANY EFFORT, because traveling to shul expends resources, and Torah scrolls and shofars are heavier than many prohibited objects that you would not otherwise lift. It is okay to eat food already prepared or that doesn't need cooking. I asked a Rabbi once if I was right to exercise on Shabbat to extend or preserve my life, and he said "Absolutely!" He quoted Hillel, whom Y'shua seems to have also used saying, "The Shabbat has been given into your hands, not you into its hands." So the effort is not the issue by itself, but the kavannah (spiritual focus) while doing in.
- But here we get to the really hard part. Shabbat regulations in Tanakh make it clear that we are not to "hire" people to do our work either. That's fine in a society where indentured servitude was common and people were tied to one master, but less clear in a diverse economic society with millions of service folks working on Shabbat. Have we "hired" the cook at the restaraunt to cook our burgers (kosher please) by paying the check at the end, leaving a tip? Or would he have made those burgers anyway, been paid by his boss, working on Shabbat whether you and I were there or not?
- Extend this question to the movie theater. The guy who gives us tickets, sells popcorn, punches the ticket, runs the projector, etc. - these people are working on Shabbat in a sense for you and for everyone who comes in. But they are not working only for you, and you are resting as you watch the film, unless of course it is really bad.
So here is where I stand. Of the two activities, I have the greater problem with the eating out, because that person is making your food for only you, and it is a business transaction at least from the perspective of what they do during Shabbat for you. But eating food already prepared at home is still the best option.
For the movie theater, real simple. BUY YOUR TICKETS ONLINE AND IN ADVANCE OF THE SHABBAT DAY. Technically they are still "working" but not that much; the business transaction took place before Shabbat and you are resting by watching the film. Again, I think the best option is to STAY HOME and don't spend money or "cause anyone to work"!
Remember: There is NO SIN SACRIFICE for continued, deliberate sinning! Breaking a command, no matter how great or small, is a SIN. We don't have to have to stand before YHWH on Judgment Day to say, "But Lord, I know I probably shouldn't have done such and such, but just look at what all else I did for you"....
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