Food Package on Shabbat

Question

If one received a package in the mail that contained food during shabbat. May one open the package to consume the food on shabbat?

0

Answers

  1. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team

    The following is taken from the OU site:
    https://oukosher.org/halacha-yomis/

    A package of food arrived on Shabbos in the mail. I did not specifically request that it arrive on Shabbos. Am I permitted to eat the food on Shabbos?

    In the previous Halacha Yomis we noted that the Mishnah Berurah rules that one may not read a letter that was delivered on Shabbos from outside the techum, because it is prohibited to benefit from a melacha done on Shabbos. Nonetheless, Shmiras Shabbos K’Hilchas (31:24) quotes Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l that food packages that arrive on Shabbos through the mail system (outside of Israel) may be eaten on Shabbos. He explains that since the mailman is delivering mail to the non-Jews in the neighborhood in any event, there is no additional melacha being performed on behalf of the Jewish recipients. (It is clear that Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach understands that the Mishnah Berurah quoted above is discussing a private mail delivery for one individual, whereas contemporary mail systems operate with mailmen that service entire communities.) Thus, in response to our original inquiry, a food package that is delivered through the normal mail system can be consumed even if arriving on Shabbos. However, a delivery of a food package that arrives via a truck that drives down the road specifically to deliver to a individual home, cannot be consumed on Shabbos.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team