Yesterday I read an article in my local paper about an institution I had never heard of before: the Shabbos goy (or Shabbes goy or Shabbat goy; in modern Hebrew, goy shel shabbat, “Non-Jew of the Sabbath”). This particular article was about a man who was both Arab and Muslim, yet performs this service in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Orthodox Jews have very strict regulations for the Sabbath. So no cell phones, computers, TV, shopping, driving, cooking (meals are prepared in advance), not even flipping a light switch. But as you can imagine, there are times when such things really must be done. The Shulchan Aruch (“Set Table”), an authoritative 16th-century codification of halacha (Jewish law), provides a loophole where a goy (traditonally “gentile”; foreigner or non-Jew) may perform certain services for the benefit of Jews that would be forbidden for they themselves to do. Thus the Shabbos goy. The Shabbos goy can turn on the air conditioner when it is hot, turn off a light that was accidentally left on, fix a fuse when it blows, rush pregnant wives to the hospital (lots of pregnant wives!), and so forth. (Before electronics, the Shabbos goy would do things like light the fire when it was cold.) The one described in the article works out of a plastic shed with a big sign that reads “Goy shel Shabbat”; the shed is just big enough for a white chair and a small fridge with soda pop.
In America, such services would often be performed by friendly neighbors. Well known examples of people who have served in the role of the Shabbos goy include Harry Truman, Elvis Presley, Mario Cuomo, Martin Scorsese, Colin Powell and Barack Obama. But in orthodox neighborhoods where the needs are great, the Shabbos goy is actually a job, and he is paid for his services.
I find this all quite fascinating, and I wondered: could we Mormons use the equivalent of a Shabbos goy? (Although historically we used the term gentile to refer to non-LDS, that usage has fallen out of favor, so my proposed equivalent is “Non-LDS Sabbath Guy.”)
Quite frankly, I wouldn’t have any use for such a service, as by Mormon standards I’m very permissive about Sabbath observance. (I watch the NFL on TV, for example.) And my guess is that Mormons tend to be more pragmatic about the ox in the mire, and in extremis will break the sabbath themselves if they have to. And I’m not sure we would go for the idea of having a non-LDS fill our car with gas, because we’re still causing others to work on the Sabbath.
But I still think it’s a fascinating idea.