Hilchos Shabbos - Crossing Streets (Cont'd)

QUESTION: I have to cross a busy street on Shabbos in a secular Jewish neighborhood. If I stand by the crosswalk, the Jewish drivers are expected to stop and let me cross. Is this a violation of lifnei iver (causing a Jew to sin)?

ANSWER: Sefer Orchos Shabbos (23 n. 66-67) writes that strictly speaking it is permissible to stand by the crosswalk even if most of the drivers are Jewish, since you are simply walking to get where you need to go and are not trying to stop any cars. However, it would be a midas chasidus (an act of piety) to avoid this if possible. Rav Asher Weiss (Teshuvos Minchas Asher, vol. 2, p. 112) adds an additional sevara for leniency: Who is to say that causing the driver to slow down is causing more melacha? Even if they will be burning more gas by slowing down, he posits that if someone is involved in a continuous act of chilul Shabbos (such as driving a car), there may be no prohibition of lifnei iver at all to cause them to burn more gas. If possible, if one can cross at a traffic light where the cars have already stopped, there would be no question of lifnei iver at all. This would be the better choice, where possible, to avoid this serious question altogether.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.