Electricity / Electronics / Electric Cars (9) – Some Specific Examples of Shevut (Part 1): Uvdin D’Chol

While there are many different Shabbat prohibitions that have been added by the Rabbis because of Shvut, we want to go into further detail about a few of the categories of Shvut that are particularly relevant to our question. This week we will look at the concept of Uvdin D’chol – Weekday activities.

The term Uvdin D’chol – or, ‘weekday activities’ – comes up frequently in responsa about Shabbat. It is considered an Issur Shvut, although it is not well defined and is used in a number of different ways.

One can find the source for Uvdin d’chol in the Talmud. The Mishnah in tractate Shabbat states:

MISHNA: Rabbi Eliezer says: One may suspend the strainer on a Festival … And the Rabbis say: One may not suspend the strainer on a Festival, and one may not place wine for filtering through a suspended strainer on Shabbat … [Mishnah Shabbat 20:1]

In explaining the prohibition of use the strainer on Shabbat, Abaye says:

It is a rabbinic decree issued so that one will not conduct himself on Shabbat in the manner that he conducts himself during the week. [BT, Shabbat 138a]

This thinking, that we have to distance ourselves from the things we do during the week, can be found in Naḥmanides understanding of Shevut quoted above. He writes that ‘We should not be disturbed all day to measure our grain … and the shops would be open and money changers tables strewn with coins … like the rest of the week.’

Maimonides is more nuanced in his understanding of what constitutes a ‘weekday activity’. After listing various activities that are forbidden because of Shevut, he adds

Some acts are forbidden on the Sabbath even though they neither resemble nor lead to prohibited work. Why then were they forbidden? Because it is written: “If you refrain from following your business on the Sabbath, on my holy day… If you honour it, not following your wonton ways, not pursuing your business, nor speaking of it” (Isaiah 58:13). Hence, one is forbidden to go anywhere on the Sabbath in connection with his business, or even to talk about it. Thus, one must not discuss with his partner what to sell on the next day, or what to buy, or how to build a certain house, or what merchandise to take to such-and-such a place. All this, and the like, is forbidden, for it is written “nor speaking of it.” That is to say, speaking of business on the Sabbath is forbidden; thinking of it, however, is permitted. [Mishnah Torah 24:1]

He goes on to list many activities that are forbidden just because they ‘aren’t in the spirit of Shabbat’.

In a subsequent response, Maimonides further clarifies the matter.

And we are not saying in this that he should not do [any kind of activity] that he does during the week, meaning he should not eat since he also eats in the week, nor should he dine in the way he dines in the week. It is a clear that you never find things that the sages have forbidden just because he does them during the week. Rather, it refers to things that lead to doing a craft …  [Teshuvot HaRambam 306]

The dividing line between ‘an ordinary activity that we happen to do on Shabbat’ and ‘a weekday activity which is not in the spirit of Shabbat’ is ambiguous. This has led to many different opinions amongst the Poskim (Halakhic decisors) in defining this prohibition.

Uvdin D’Hol is a classic example of a subjective prohibition – what we have called a weak Shvut. That’s not to say that it isn’t an important consideration – but one where we would be more lenient if there were other extenuating circumstances

Based on: A New Responsum on the Sabbath. Rabbi Mordecai Schwartz and Rabbi Chaim Weiner.