Last Shabbos, I encouraged members of our shul to invite non observant guests to our homes on Rosh Hashana night. I was approached by a number of people with an important question that I would like to address. Is it permissible to invite someone to our home on Shabbos or Yom Tov if we know that they will drive? Rav Moshe Shternbuch Shlit"a addresses this question in his sefer called Tshuvos Vehanhagos. A person wrote to Rav Shternbuch asking if he can invite his parents to his home on Shabbos even though they wished to drive there? The man questioned if his invitation was a violation of "Lifne Iver" - "Placing a stumbling block before the blind", since the invitation to the Shabbos meal would be causing the parents to drive on Shabbos. Rav Shternbuch answered that there was no violation since the goal in this case was to bring the parents closer to Torah and Judaism through this experience. Rav Shternbuch does not see the invitation as the reason for people to sin by driving. He explains that we are inviting them, but how they get there is their choice. He does suggest that people be told that it is a sin to drive. Most Kiruv orginizations would say that the teaching will come with time. I would like to add that today we are dealing, in most cases, with Jews who are unaware of the severity of violating Shabbos and our invitation to them is a means of bringing them closer. Rav Herschel Schachter Shlit"a told me this week that he feels a person should tell a potential guest that "Orthodox practice is that we do not drive on Shabbos. Therefore, we would love for you to sleep over and spend a whole Shabbos, if that is not possible, please join us for a meal.” In this way, according to Rav Schachter, we are not "telling" the person to drive, yet we are telling them that we hope to have them even if they do. There have been thousands of Jews whose lives have been changed positively through the experience of a Shabbos or Yom Tov meal. It is our duty to invite them and help draw them closer to where they belong; where their neshama wants them to be.
-I would like to welcome our Scholar in Residence Dr. Yael Ziegler. We look forward to hearing her over Shabbos.