For donations Click Here

Partnership with Non-Jew for Nursing Home

I am going into a 50/50 partnership with a non-Jew to run the operations of a nursing home. The nursing home runs 24/7. How does it work for me regarding getting schar Shabbos and Yom tov.
In addition we are partners in a managment company as well which is closed on shabbos but is open on yom tov.
The partnership begins on July 1st.

Answer:

If the workers of the company (on Shabbos) are non-Jews, the very existence of a partnership is sufficient to permit the sharing of profits, and there is no need for further stipulations.

The condition for this is that you (the Jewish partner) should not be involved in any way in the running of the nursing home on Shabbos, and this should be totally in the hands of the non-Jewish partner (or those beneath him).

The same idea will apply for the management company.

If there are no workers in the company, and the partner himself will be doing the work, the situation becomes more complex, but there remains room to rely on the ruling of the Rema (and others), for cases where the Jewish partner does not work on a specific day of the week corresponding to the work of the non-Jewish partner on Shabbos.

Under these circumstances, very fact of the partnership will be enought to permit the sharing of income, provided that the Jew has no “say” about working arrangements on Shabbos.

See also below.

Sources:

Where non-Jewish workers other than the partner do the work on Shabbos, the matter of a partnership is lighter: see Magen Avraham 245:1 and Mishnah Berurah (1), and see Aruch Ha-Shulchan 245:11.

Where there are no non-Jewish workers, the Shulchan Aruch (245) requires a spitulation with the non-Jewish partner whereby the income for Shabbos goes to the non-Jew, and the corresponding income from another day is given to the Jewish partner. If the stipulation is made, it is permitted to eventually share the income evenly.

The Rema, however, is more lenient, and cites from the Ran (21a) who rules that where the Jewish partner does not take on a specific day of the week corresponding to Shabbos, it is permitted to share the income of Shabbos (from the non-Jew’s work). This idea is ruled by the Sho’el U-Meishiv (1:3:55), and is relied on by a number of authorities (see Minchas Yitzchak 9:21; Shut Maharshag, Orach Chaim 45).

if the Jew is doing “extra work” in the weekdays, corresponding to his “taking Shabbos off,” the Rema is only lenient bedieved, and lechatchilah one must make the stipulation mentioned by the Shulchan Aruch.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *