Question:
BS”D
Shalom Rabbi, a Jew can program with a Uber during the week and already leaving paid during the week, so in to in Shabbes the Uber take the person to synagogue, and then bring him from the synagogue to your house? There is a lenience in Halakha for this?
Answer:
Cute idea, but it won’t go.
There are a number of issues with such an idea. The first one is a halacha that many people unfortunately don’t know. Regarding using a gentile on Shabbos, aside from the prohibition not to ask him to do melacha for us, even in retrospect, if he did do melacha for us, post facto, we may not benefit from it. The reason is specifically in order that we should not come to ask him before Shabbos to do the melacha for us, such as in your instance. Besides this, just getting into the car and being driven in the car is disrespectful to the Shabbos because it appears that the car as ordered on Shabbos.
Walking to the synagogue and back on Shabbos can be a challenge, as sometimes it is far from where you live. You can drive there before Shabbos, and back after Shabbos, and this will minimize some of the walks. Additionally, you should just know that it is written that Hashem counts the steps that the person takes when walking to do a mitzva, and the person is duly rewarded for each and every step! In your case that would be quite a windfall! Aside for that we must also calculate, that when a mitzva is difficult we ae rewarded 100 times more than if it is easy. Therefore, your walking to shul once is rewarded more than a full month’s worth of going to shul for a person that lives right nearby. Yes, it might be hard, but the creator of the world will make sure it is worth your while.
Best wishes
Sources:
Orach Chayim 276-1. Tractate Baba Metzia 106a, Sotah 22a.
