Question posed by a soldier in the IDF: The base where we are stationed does not have a kitchen. On Shabbat, food was brought to the base via a military vehicle. All of the foods were cooked before Shabbat and upon arriving at the military base, they were placed on an electric hotplate in order to keep them warm. Are these foods permissible to eat?
Answer: The root of this question lies in a well-known Halacha that if one cooks a food on Shabbat, one may not partake of this food forever. Others, however, may eat this food only beginning from Motza’ei Shabbat as Maran Ha’Shulchan Aruch (Chapter 318) rules.
Benefitting from Shabbat Desecration
Regarding our scenario, although the food was cooked before Shabbat, it was nevertheless transported by car on Shabbat. Indeed, the Rama writes (in his notation ibid.) that food is not only prohibited to eat when it was cooked on Shabbat; rather, the same applies to the rest of the forbidden works on Shabbat in that one may not benefit from their performance on Shabbat. Thus, if a Jew picks fruits off a tree and other such forbidden works on Shabbat, others may not partake of these fruits until Motza’ei Shabbat.
If so, this would seemingly apply to our situation as well since the transport of the food to the base was done in a manner of Shabbat desecration; since it was transported by a vehicle, it would seem that partaking of these foods should be forbidden until Motza’ei Shabbat. Until that point, the soldiers should make do with canned foods and the like that were not transported to them in a forbidden manner.
If Those Transporting the Foods are Considered “Unintentional”
Maran Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef zt”l was asked this question (his answer is printed in his Chazon Ovadia-Shabbat, Vol. 4, page 427) and he writes that we can assume that the individual who brought the food to the base mistakenly thought that this is not prohibited, for some people who are not well-versed in Halacha have the erroneous notion that the status in the military is always that of wartime and this can therefore be considered a life-threatening situation and it is thus permissible to transport food to the soldiers (which is indeed a situation that can arise at times).
Based on this, it would seem that the status of the one transporting the food should not be as if he had desecrated Shabbat intentionally; rather, he is considered to be in the category of one who does so “unintentionally,” i.e. mistakenly. When such an act of Shabbat desecration is performed unintentionally, many Poskim rule that it is not prohibited to eat the food until Motza’ei Shabbat. This is especially true in a case of great need. (As per the Mishnah Berura)
For this reason and others, Maran zt”l writes that when this has already been done, there is room for leniency, and the soldiers may eat the food they are served.
Similarly, Hagaon Harav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l (may Hashem grant him a speedy recovery, Amen) writes in his Sefer Kovetz Teshuvot (Chapter 24) that since no forbidden work has been done in the actual food, meaning that the food was not actually cooked on Shabbat, rather, only an unrelated forbidden work was performed in order to transport it to the base, the food is permissible to be eaten in pressing circumstances. (Maran zt”l discusses this rationale at length.)
He continues to write that even if we prohibit eating the foods, nevertheless, if a soldier feels that if he does not eat this food he will grow weak and as a result he will not be able to perform his duties properly, he may indeed partake of these foods, for the essence of the prohibition to eat a food in which a prohibition was performed is not a Torah prohibition; rather, it only constitutes a rabbinic prohibition and is permitted in cases like these.
Maran zt”l concludes that although one may be lenient in this situation, nevertheless, in the future, the Military Rabbinate should make sure to provide the soldiers with hot food without having to desecrate Shabbat. Adequate food should be prepared before Shabbat and merely placed on an electric hotplate as is customary in large military bases.
Summary: Foods that were cooked before Shabbat and were transported to a military base on Shabbat, although transporting these foods to the base was indeed forbidden, the soldiers may nevertheless partake of these foods on Shabbat. From now on, they should make sure this issue is rectified and the food should be brought to them before Shabbat.
