Can a Jew send mail on Friday? Can a Jew send out a FedEx packet for delivery to a non-Jew on either of Saturday or Monday? Does it matter whether it is for the personal benefit of the Jewish sender or for his work, where he reaps no personal benefit?
Todd Kobernick, San Diego, California
Shalom
Regarding mail there are two requirements:
1) KOTZETZ LO DAMIM - setting the price for him.
2) That he does not require delivery on Shabbos.
With a regular piece of mail there is no problem mailing it on erev Shabbos, since the postage is definitely considered kotzez damim, and he is not required to deliver that piece of mail on Shabbos.
In the case of Fedex or overnight mail, although there is k'tzitzas damim, two conditions must be met:
1) Not requiring the delivery on Shabbos (e.g. an overnight letter being mailed on Friday)
2) It would be possible to deliver it on time without working on Shabbos (e.g. sending a package on Thursday for it to arrive on Monday. If the delivery company can complete this task without working on Shabbos, there is no problem to sending it, even if the company does work on Shabbos).
In the event that you are mailing it for your employer who is a non-Jew and it is being mailed to a non-Jew, there are no restrictions (provided of course that this is done before Shabbos).
Yehuda Landy
Regarding the sending of mail, where I never thought it was an issue, for the reasons you stated, I now have serious questions on the allowance to send a regular envelope in the mail on friday, at least in the USA. Yes, there is a set price for the delivery. However, when one places an envelope for mailing into the custody of the US postal service on friday, any employee handling the envelope is REQUIRED to promptly pick up and make delivery of that piece of mail, or would lose their job. When one purchases a stamp and places it on the mail, isn't it true that one does so with full knowledge of the workings of the postal service? that the mail WILL be promptly delivered? and doesn't one know how long it will take for delivery [or at least know 100% that anything placed in fridays mail must be delivered on shabbos]? I question whether today's US postal service can be considered similar to delivery in olden days where a set fee is paid for delivery by a private person, and that person is free to deliver the mail that same day, or the next day, or the day after. In the case of a 3-day fedex or private delivery, I see where they can choose themselves to deliver it or not on shabbos, so I don't have the problem as I do with the US postal service. But with US postal service, its pretty much "law of the land" required delivery on shabbos, as the delivery rules and regulations are set in law.
Much appreciative of all your mailings, and much confused in this issue,
Gedaliah
Thank you for your question.
I would say like this. The issue here is whether or not the Jew is forcing the non-Jew to violate Shabbos. If the Jew's instructions do not inevitably cause Chilul Shabbos, there should be no problem. Despite the government standards you mentioned, I have yet to hear of a case where a person complained that the mail delivery was a day late. I therefore don't view it as if the person mailing the letter is demanding the prompt service. See MB 247:3.
Yehuda Landy
Dear Rabbi
Don't you think that in the case below we can relay on the amira la amira (the person who will pick up the letter will give it to an other one and maybe even a third one)
All this is given the fact that the issue is a issur miderabanan
Shabbat shalom
Shlomo Amar
Thanks for your question. The issue of Amira La'amira is a complex one. The MB (307:25) quotes different opinions on the matter. His conclusion is that only in the case of a great financial loss, can one rely on the lenient opinion. There is another issue involved here. In this case the postal worker knows that he is doing the melacha for someone else. Do those poskim who permit Amira La'amira, permit it even if the non-Jew performing the melacha is aware of the fact that the melacha he us doing is really for the benefit of the Jew? This is also disputed among the poskim.
Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein Shlit"a, in his Sefer Melochim Omnayich (which deals entirely with Amirah L'akum), states (pg 211 second edition) that some permit to send an overnight letter on Erev Shabbos if it is urgent and a large financial loss is involved.
Yehuda Landy
Dear Rabbis,
In regard to the discussion of mailing a letter on Friday, I would like to point out that (at least in the USA) FedEx, UPS, and other major courier services offer what's called 'Saturday delivery' for an extra charge. This service guarantees the package or letter be picked up from the sender on erev shabbos, and must be delivered on shabbos. In this case it WILL BE that the person mailing the letter is demanding the prompt service - for delivery explicitly on 'Saturday'. What would be the Halacha in this scenario?
Yisrael M. Rosenthal
Shalom
In such a case it surely would be prohibited since the sender is actually requiring the non-Jew to deliver it for him on shabbos.
Yehuda Landy