We continue with these halachot (laws), as we pointed out several times. A goy (non-Jew) is not allowed to do any melacha (prohibited labor) for a Jew; he is not allowed to do anything that a Jew cannot do. That is what we discussed earlier: how to use the sevarot (reasoning) in halacha (Jewish law). If the Rishonim (early authorities) or the Aharonim (later authorities) allow the Jew to do certain things, then we could have a goy do those things, even if we don't posek (rule) halacha like this for the Jew. But otherwise, if it's completely asur (not allowed), there's no way you could tell a goy to do something for you.
For instance, if it's Shabbat morning and the plata (hot plate) is off and you want hot food, and a goy connects the plata and puts the food on it, then you're not allowed to have hana'ah (benefit) from this food. There's no way to do that because it came about through a goy plugging in the heat source with a goy, which would be asur. Is there a way to make this mutar (permitted)? There's a little trick that Hacham Yitzchak Yosef in Yalkut Yosef and his brother in his sefer, Halacha Berura, both bring. We know that you're only asur to have hana'ah from a melacha—to derive hana'ah from a melacha that is done directly. But if a melacha is done through grama, which is indirect and does not immediately produce a satisfactory result from melacha, then it wouldn't be asur to derive benefit from a goy doing a grama.
So they both come up with the idea that if you need hot food on Shabbat lunch, let's say you have guests or whatever and you have a goy, the only way to do this would be to have the goy connect your plata or your heating device through a timer on Shabbat. The goy is going to put the timer. In 10 minutes it's going to turn on. Now, not good? It's a great idea. You tell him, “Put the timer.” Well, you're telling him something that he's allowed to do. You cannot tell somebody something he's not allowed to do. You could tell him to do a grama. You could tell him to do a grama. If he's allowed to do a grama, then you're allowed to tell him to do a grama. So it's time to do a grama. You tell him, “Hey, I need the hot food. You cannot turn it on directly; you could turn it on through the grama. He should do the grama.” What is he going to do? Put the timer so it will turn on in 5 minutes, in 10 minutes, in an hour, whenever you need it to turn on. That way, he's doing the grama. Can you have hana'ah from a melacha done through grama? Yes, you could have hana'ah through that. That's why it's very important to always keep the old timers in your house. In case you need it, you could have the guy plug it in, and when it turns on, you're allowed to have hana'ah from that melacha.