24 Jul TRAVELING IN A HIGH TECH WORLD: QUESTIONS WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT / OU

Throughout the year, and especially during the summer, many
of our readers travel and stay at hotels/motels for Shabbos. There
are many halachic questions that arise when going to a hotel/
motel these days. Ari Hirsch from The Country Vues sat down
with Rabbi Elefant from the OU to discuss many questions that
arise & try to answer many of the most popular questions.

Walking in the door- Can one
use the electronic automatic
front door when going into a
hotel/motel on Shabbos?
No. You’re not allowed to use
a door with an electronic eye
because you’re causing it to
open. A similar example that
people should pay attention to
is if they’re walking by a house
that has a motion detector, such
as when you walk by the house it
causes the lights to go on. That’s
also something that somebody
should be careful about. The
same thing with going into a
hotel. Certainly, hotels that are
doing kosher programs should
disarm one door before Shabbos
so that you can walk in and out
through the regular door on
Shabbos or Yom tov. If you’re
in a hotel that doesn’t have that,
you should wait until somebody
non-Jewish is either entering
or exiting the hotel and when
that person is either entering or
exiting the hotel, you follow them
so that you do not cause the door
to open or close. It’s still not ideal
because it’s going to close when
you’re finished walking through
since you’re following behind
someone. However, if it’s in a
place where you have no other
option, that’s what you should do.

If one has a reservation at a
hotel or motel & is running

late on Erev Shabbos & you
pull up within the 18 minutes
of Shabbos, are you allowed
to check in on Shabbos at that
point?
What I would recommend is that
if somebody is running so late and
he sees that they’re only going to
arrive in the hotel when they can’t
write, they should call the hotel
before they arrive, give them their
information so that the hotel has
the credit card or whatever else
is necessary to check in. Since
the hotel will at that point have
whatever is necessary to check in,
they don’t have to give anything
to the hotel. If the hotel wants to
see the exact credit card or the
exact license, then bring it to the
person sitting at the desk and let
them take it out of your wallet and
put it back in your wallet. This

way you won’t touch something
which is muktzah.

When one gets to their room,
they find out that they only
have electronic door openers,
as opposed to keys, what should
one do then?
That’s a huge issue in general. You
obviously can’t enter or exit a room
that you can only enter or exit with
an electronic key on Shabbos. If
you’re staying in a hotel like that,
put a magnet or a piece of tape on

the lock. Your room is essentially
open the entire Shabbos and
you’re not opening or closing
your door really. Many hotels
have a magnet or tape prepared
for this situation. Obviously, the
downside with doing so is that
your room is open and it’s easy for
someone to enter and exit your
room; that’s the responsibility you
take. I was in such a hotel not long
ago for a conference and the hotel
had a setup like I just described
where they put some sort of a
magnet on the door. The door
looks locked, but it’s really not
locked; all you need to do is open
the knob and get in and out of the
door. The hotel made us sign a
waiver because we were in a room
that we chose to leave unlocked,
so if something were to happen,
we would be held liable. What I
tell people is this is not a halachic
recommendation, this is a practical
recommendation. Any money or
jewelry that you have should be
put into a safe before Shabbos.
Any jewelry that your wife wants
to wear on Shabbos should be
worn all the time, unless you’re
in the room obviously. There
are people who give a non-Jew
their electronic key and have the
non-Jew open and close the door.
The OU does not agree with that.
First of all, it means that you’re
carrying the key and we consider
that key muktzah. Additionally,

you’re not allowed to ask a non-
Jew to do melacha, to do work on

Shabbos on your behalf. If you’re
not allowed to open the door on
Shabbos with that electronic key,
then you’re not allowed to ask a
non-Jew to do it on your behalf.
We will not give supervision to

a hotel that uses such a system;
we consider that unacceptable.
Therefore, I cannot recommend
that as an approach on how to
work with electronic keys, rather
the only thing I recommend is, as
I said, leaving the door open in a
way that you don’t need to use the
electronic lock on Shabbos.

One gets into their hotel/motel
room and there is a refrigerator.
Can the refrigerator be used
and if it can, does it need to be
kashered?
A refrigerator can be used. If
there is food residue in the

refrigerator, you should clean
it. I would imagine that most
refrigerators in a hotel room are
clean and therefore you don’t
have to do anything as far as
the refrigerator is concerned.
The issue, however, is if there’s
a light in the refrigerator, as it’s
no different than the refrigerator
that we have at home. If there’s a
light in the refrigerator, you have
to make sure if you’re going to be
in the room over Shabbos that the
light is somehow disabled and

that you won’t have a problem on
Shabbos with that light.

Can one use the microwave that
is in the hotel/motel room?
I recommend that if somebody
wants to use a microwave in their
hotel room they should make sure
that the microwave is completely
clean. Once the microwave is
completely clean, everything they
put in the microwave to warm
up should be double wrapped.
Obviously, do not cover it with
aluminum because you may blow
up the whole hotel doing that, but
double wrap it in saran wrap or
wax paper. If somebody wants to
kasher the microwave, first make
sure it’s completely clean. Then
put a cup of water or a bowl of
water into it and let it boil to a
degree that everything inside the
microwave gets steamed up. After
you’ve done that, move that bowl
or cup from the place that it was
and repeat the process so that the
spot can also be kashered.

Many hotels/motels have
liquid soaps and shampoos
in their rooms. Going into
Shabbos, you open them
up, but then the cleaning
service clears out the ones
that are opened and put in
new, unopened ones. Are
you allowed to open them on
Shabbos?
No, you can’t open it up on
Shabbos. You’re not allowed
to open soaps or shampoos on
Shabbos. You have to make sure
that it’s opened before Shabbos.
Of course one should only use
liquid soap on Shabbos.

Is one allowed to have room
service clean your room on
Shabbos?
You’re not asking them to clean
the room on Shabbos. They’re not
doing it because you asked them
to do it. Since you aren’t the one
that asked them to do it, there’s
no problem. It would only be an
issue if you were the one to ask
them, but you didn’t ask them.

You’re in a Non-Jewish hotel
for a conference and there’s live
music in the lobby on Shabbos.
Are you allowed to sit down in
the lobby and enjoy the music
on Shabbos?
Yes. Again, they’re not playing
that music for you, so it’s not a
problem. It would be different if
a Jewish group took over the hotel
for the whole Shabbos, but I don’t
believe that that’s the case we’re
talking about here. If a Jewish
group took over the hotel for the
whole Shabbos, that’s something
that you should consider.

Many hotels/motels have
complimentary breakfasts
included. A lot of these places
have juices but they don’t have

hechsherim written down
anywhere. Are you allowed to
have orange juice or apple juice?
Or do you have to make sure
that there’s a hechsher?
Plain orange juice and plain apple
juice are generally kosher and I
don’t see a reason why somebody
would not be able to drink either
of those.

If a hotel/motel makes you
check out on Shabbos afternoon
because they don’t have space
for you for Motzei Shabbos/
Sunday, are you allowed to check
out without doing anything?
Sometimes you just give them
the key and walk away. Is that
permissible?
Yes, that’s permissible. Again, the
key is muktzah, in many cases, but
walking out is not a problem. This is
a much more complicated question
than it sounds like; if you’re leaving
your room on Shabbos what are
you taking along with you as you
leave your room? If you’re taking
muktzah items with you when you
leave your room, then you have an
issue. If you’re not carrying out
muktzah items with you, then I
don’t see an issue.