To drive or not to drive, that is the question TB Berachot 63

The year was 1950 and post-World War II America was changing. World War II veterans were marrying and leaving urban cities and moving into suburbia. My family is a prime example. My mother and father married in 1951 and I was born in 1952. The first and only home they ever owned was in a Northeast Cleveland’s suburb called Pepper Pike. We were so far away that my grandmother Esther thought that we moved to the end of the world! My street Windy Hill Drive at that time wasn’t even paved and still today does not have sidewalks. We were at least a 30 minute car ride away from the nearest synagogue in the older Jewish neighborhood.

After listing all the reasons why driving a car is prohibited on the Sabbath, Rabbi Isaac Klein writes in his book A Guide To Jewish Religious Practice:

“The Law Committee of the Rabbinic Assembly and, in its celebrated resolution on travel on the Sabbath, has made one exception to this rule. Under the conditions of our day, many congregants live far away from the synagogue and cannot attend services unless they ride. For many of these people, attendance at services is there only contact with religious life and practically there only awareness of the sanctity of the Sabbath. Hence it was ruled:  ‘as we have already indicated, participation in public service on the Sabbath is in the light of modern conditions to be regarded as a great mitswah, since it is indispensable to the preservation of religious life of American Jewry. Therefore it is our considered opinion that the positive value involved in the participation in public worship on the Sabbath outweighs the negative value of refraining from riding in an automobile’ (Waxman, tradition and change, p. 370; Adler et al., Responsum on the Sabbath,’ p. 132).

“This resolution was passed by a majority opinion of the law committee with a sizable minority opposed. But the decision must not be understood as outright permission to travel to the synagogue. The case presents a conflict between two values-not riding on the Sabbath and participating in public worship-and we must each opt for one or the other of them. Our fathers, and many of us today, would opt not to ride. We can understand the feelings of those who opt for public worship because of the changed conditions under which we live. Yet we must not construe this opposition as a general heter, but rather as applying to individual cases where choice must be made. Every other alternative must be exhausted first. (See David Novak, Law and Theology in Judaism, pp. 21-30)” (page 86)

I tried to find this responsa in my library and online, but I couldn’t. Nevertheless if my memory serves me correctly, part of the halachic decision-making was based upon today’s daf TB Berachot 63. “The Gemara elaborates: This verse can be interpreted from beginning to end: It is time to work for the Lord; what is the reason? Because they have made void Your Torah, so it must be remedied. Conversely, it can be interpreted from end to beginning as follows: They have made void Your Torah; what is the reason? Because it is time to work for the Lord. By means of violating the Torah, it is possible to fundamentally rectify the situation.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Since families like my own were living too far from the synagogue to walk. Few Jews would possibly be able to attend synagogue without driving, which the Conservative Movement believed could lead to the collapse of Jewish observance and the Jewish community. Consequently, in the teshuvah’s eyes it was time work for the Lord even if it meant violating the Torah Sabbath laws with the hope that this will enable Jews to become more Sabbath observant.

Was it successful? The debate still rages in the Conservative Movement whether this teshuvah has strengthened Jewish Sabbath observance or not. Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, then Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, made his declaration in Dallas during a speech at the biennial convention of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in 2003 that this teshuvah was a mistake. You can read about the ensuing debate by following this link https://forward.com/news/6998/conservative-head-calls-sabbath-driving-rule-a/. By the way, I don’t drive on Shabbat and the Mesorati movement in Israel and in England have rejected this teshuvah and don’t permit driving on Shabbat.