סימן שה סעיף כג- סימן שו סעיף א באמצע

You're allowed to give your horse, mule, or donkey to a shepherd who is a goy (non-Jew). Even if the goy does melacha (work) with the animal on Shabbat, it's okay, since he is not doing it with the Jew's da'at (intention), and he is not waiting to get paid by him. The Mishnah Berurah will explain these words. But if you see the goy doing melacha with it on Shabbat, you must protest. And for sure, you don't have to worry that the goy takes the animals out of the techum (Sabbath boundary), because techumim is derabbanan (rabbinic law). Mishnah Berurah.

What does this mean? You could give your animals to a shepherd, and even if he works with them, it's okay because he's not doing it for you, and he's not waiting for money. What does that mean? This is why you're allowed to give him your animal. The goy is afraid to do melacha with the animal on Shabbat, so he doesn't get punished in his courts. You gave him your animal so he could graze it. If he gets caught working your animal, he's violating what you gave him your animal to do. Therefore, he's afraid of getting punished for that. So even though your animal is not allowed to work on Shabbat, even by a goy, for any reason, here we're not worried he's going to work with the animal, because he's afraid to.

But to rent out your animal to a goy, or to have a goy borrow your animal, that's asur (forbidden), even if you make a condition with him that he's not allowed to work it on Shabbat. Like we mentioned before, in because since he's renting it for work, he's not so afraid to work it on Shabbat. He'll say in his heart, “Okay, I know I wasn't allowed to do it on Shabbat, but now I'll pay him more. I'll tell the guy I work, but I'll pay him more.” Even when he's borrowing, even though he's not paying, he'll think, “I'll do him a favor now, because he's not allowed to do it on Shabbat, because I'm using it for an extra day that I wasn't allowed to.” But when you give it to a shepherd, you're giving it to him only to shepherd the animal. He's afraid to do any melacha, even if he would want to pay you, because that's not what you gave it to him for. It's not made for working; it was made only for grazing.

Based on this, when Maran (our master) says, “If you see him working with it, you have to stop him,” vehu hadin (and the same law applies), it doesn't only mean if you see him. Even if you hear or find out that he's working, you must go there and protest. Because really, he's not allowed to work with it on Shabbat. We're just saying that he won't, because he's not allowed to. All the more so, Rama says you don't have to worry that he's going to take it out of the techum. Even if you see him taking your animal out of the techum, you don't have to protest. Because techumim is derabbanan, the rabbis only prohibit you from actively taking the animal out. If the goy does it on his own, you don't have to protest. But the Pri Megadim is not sure that you could command the goy to take it out of the techum to graze there. Therefore, don't tell him to graze it outside the techum.

Based on this, if this goy is going to be taking other oxen to sell, and you know he's going out of the techum, it would be forbidden for you to give him your animal on Shabbat. Even if you made a deal with him regarding this before Shabbat—that means you set up that you're paying him to take your animal—maybe he's doing it for himself. But still, since you know he's going out of the techum, it's as if you told him to go out of the techum, and that would be prohibited. But to give it to him on Friday, even if you know for a fact he's going out of the techum on Shabbat, even out of three parsaot (parasangs), which may be de'oraita (biblical law), is allowed. He's doing that for himself. He's getting money, and he is deciding on his own that he wants to take the animals there. It's none of your business. And again, techum is not the same as melacha. Only melacha is technically prohibited, not techum. It's only forbidden for you to tell him to go, but here you're not telling him to go. If you did it before Shabbat with a price, even though you know he's going, it's okay.

There are those who are mahmir (stringent), not to give over an animal to a goy on Shabbat for grazing, for him to shepherd. However, the minhag (custom) today is to be lenient. This concludes siman (section) Shin Heh. We move on now to siman Shin Vav. There's a pasuk (verse) in Yeshayahu upon which this siman is based. We're going to only discuss for the beginning of it, the words that we read in the Kiddush (sanctification prayer). This siman is actually about those words: on Shabbat, it's forbidden to do even things that are allowed if they are preparation for something that's forbidden to do. You're preparing to do something that's asura on Shabbat. For example, to go to a field, to look at it, to see what it needs. In the next siman, we'll talk about the words daber davar, which is prohibited speech on Shabbat.

Maran says that the pasuk tells you it's forbidden on Shabbat to make any type of effort regarding something that you're not allowed to do on Shabbat. Even though you're not doing any melacha, you're not doing any Shabbat. You're inspecting your possessions to see what they need tomorrow, or you're going to the entrance of a city so you'll get to the bathhouse quicker on Shabbat. Going to the bathhouse is asura on Shabbat, so going to the entrance and waiting there is forbidden because it's preparation for something that's asura on Shabbat. You cannot wait by the techum because you want to hire workers immediately after Shabbat. Hiring workers is forbidden on Shabbat, and therefore you can't prepare for that. You're not allowed to go searching for a horse, a boat, or a wagon that you're going to use tomorrow, because then it's apparent that you're doing it so you could use them after Shabbat. And even if you are, as the Biur Halacha says, even if it's going to be by the techum, it will be a problem. We'll stop over here in Maran: you're not allowed to inspect your things to see what they're going to need tomorrow.

This is only if it's apparent from your actions that you are preparing. For example, you're standing by your field that needs plowing or harvesting, so it's obvious to the onlooker that you're doing it to see what it needs. Or if you're going to wait by the entrance of the city, since the bathhouse is usually by the entrance, it's obvious what you're doing. You're waiting to go to the bathhouse. But if it's not recognizable what you're doing from your action, then it would only be considered hirhur, thinking about doing things after Shabbat, which technically is allowed. This Halakha, they say in Note 1, is agreed upon by Hacham Ovadia and Ben Ish Chai as well. You're not allowed to wait by the techum. So if that's good to go, walk to the edge of the techum and wait there, closer to the workmen, to hire them right after Shabbat. The reason is that anything you're not allowed to do on Shabbat, such as hiring workers, is asur to wait by the techum to do, even when it is an issur derabbanan (rabbinic prohibition), like hiring workers. This is just the first couple of lines. It ends today's page, which is short. And Be'ezrat Hashem (with God's help), we will continue tomorrow.