Rabbi Weiss's Pesak for Carrying your RUID on Shabbat
This year, to help safeguard and ensure a pleasurable and acceptable dining experience for our Jewish students on Friday night, the university administration saw fit to request that Rutgers students present a valid ID at the door at Brower in order to gain access to the faculty dining hall where the weekly Hillel Free Friday Night Shabbat Dinner takes place. There has been a voice of concern raised by several students over the possible complications that this may cause religious students who wish to observe the Shabbat and who are concerned that it may be problematic to carry their ID card with them on Shabbat since this card may be considered “muktzah” or “not fit for use on Shabbat,” since this card – in addition to serving as a valid photo ID – may act as a quasi-credit card, complete with magnetic strip and bar-code that allows students to make purchases both on and off campus.
Since Rutgers College Avenue campus is truly fortunate to have a fully functioning eruv that allows Jews to carry on Shabbat, the issue of carrying an ID in this portion of campus* is not a problem in and of itself for students since the existence of the eruv allows for this possibility.
The problem then remains of whether or not it would be permissible to handle your Rutgers ID on Shabbat – an object which in itself may be prohibited to be handled on Shabbat – regardless of the existence of an eruv, given that its use may be one for prohibition on Shabbat. Contrary to popular belief, your Rutgers ID does not hold any amount of money on it. The magnetic strip on the back of your card simply contains your social security number and your student ID number which – when swiped at a kiosk for example – provides information to a server on a central database which enables the server to access information about you and your student account. If you are using the card during the week to make a food purchase for example, the server will tell the machine where your card is swiped how much available funds are left for you to make the purchase and it will communicate with that machine to record the transaction on your main account in the server, deducting the amount of your purchase from your account online. But your card stays the same and does not itself hold any amount of monetary value on it. That isn’t to say that your card isn’t valuable however. It still does contain sensitive information about you embedded on the magnetic strip and therefore you should be careful to safeguard it and not lose it, of course. However, the card itself does not contain money on it and is no different in this regard from a hotel room key that can open a door due to the encoding on its back.
The question then becomes: is it permissible to handle an item that’s primary function is for a prohibited use (a “klishe-meleahkto l’issur”) on Shabbat? The answer is two-fold:On the one hand, there are those that might look at the ID card as not even having the designated status of a kli she-mlakhto l’issur since the card itself does not function on its own as performing any type of prohibited work (“melaha”) per se. The card is not something electrical in and of itself and therefore it is not the card that ever does an action, rather it’s the machines that read the cards that perform the prohibited action on Shabbat and therefore the ID would be no different then say a library card with a bar code on its back. (Which, coincidentally, your Rutgers ID also happens to sport on its rear face.) In this regard, if we hold according to this opinion, there is no problem handling your ID on Shabbat or carrying, providing of course that there is a fully functioning eruv in the vicinity. But even if we were to say that the card is definitely a kli she-melahkto l’issur, in this regard we have two overwhelmingly strong reasons why it would be permitted to use and handle on Shabbat anyways. The first reason is that the card functions not only so as to hold your SS # and Student ID # on the magnetic strip, but it also contains a picture ID of yourself which can be used for visual ID purposes or verification. This use of the card is completely mutar (permissible) on Shabbat and would then make this card both a kli she-melakhto l’issur u’le-heter (an item that’s primary use is for a prohibited use as well as for a permissible use). Therefore as long as you would be using this card for its intended permissible use in this regard, then there would be no problem of muktzah on Shabbat.
The second reason it is permitted to carry this ID on Shabbat is similar to that above in that we have a general rule that a kli she-melahkto l’issur may be handled on Shabbat provided that it is being used for a permissible use. For example: a hammer – which is a kli she-melahkto l’issur - an item that’s use is primarily for a prohibited use – may be used on Shabbat to break nuts or as a door stop, since using a hammer in this fashion does not violate Shabbat prohibitions. Using a kli she-melahkto l’issur in this regard is called l’tzorekh gufo, or for “personal need” and is well within the confines of halakha. For the Shabbat meals at Brower Hall on Friday night, your student ID will not be scanned or swiped but will simply be used for visual recognition. For this reason students should feel confident that they are well within the bounds of religiously observing the Shabbat while still carrying and using their Rutgers ID for visual identification purposes.
To clarify any of these ideas or issues or if a student still has concern they should feel free to turn to me for any further questions or discussion. I can be reached at the OU-JLIC office on the second floor of the Rutgers Hillel at 732-545-2407 ex. 406 or also via cell at 860-305-3160. If you miss the opportunity to catch me before Shabbat but would still like to discuss this issue, I will be reviewing the matter publicly at the Rutgers Hillel Mesorah minyan on Friday night immediately following the evening prayers of Ma’ariv. And if you STILL miss me there, you will find me at Brower enjoying an awesome Friday night meal with the rest of our amazing students… Just look for the orthodox rabbi sporting the Rutgers ID that says “chaplain” on the front.
Have a wonderful and restful Shabbos!!
Sincerely,
Rabbi Akiva Dovid Weiss
OU-JLIC Rabbinic EducatorRutgers University - Rutgers Hillel
Since Rutgers College Avenue campus is truly fortunate to have a fully functioning eruv that allows Jews to carry on Shabbat, the issue of carrying an ID in this portion of campus* is not a problem in and of itself for students since the existence of the eruv allows for this possibility.
The problem then remains of whether or not it would be permissible to handle your Rutgers ID on Shabbat – an object which in itself may be prohibited to be handled on Shabbat – regardless of the existence of an eruv, given that its use may be one for prohibition on Shabbat. Contrary to popular belief, your Rutgers ID does not hold any amount of money on it. The magnetic strip on the back of your card simply contains your social security number and your student ID number which – when swiped at a kiosk for example – provides information to a server on a central database which enables the server to access information about you and your student account. If you are using the card during the week to make a food purchase for example, the server will tell the machine where your card is swiped how much available funds are left for you to make the purchase and it will communicate with that machine to record the transaction on your main account in the server, deducting the amount of your purchase from your account online. But your card stays the same and does not itself hold any amount of monetary value on it. That isn’t to say that your card isn’t valuable however. It still does contain sensitive information about you embedded on the magnetic strip and therefore you should be careful to safeguard it and not lose it, of course. However, the card itself does not contain money on it and is no different in this regard from a hotel room key that can open a door due to the encoding on its back.
The question then becomes: is it permissible to handle an item that’s primary function is for a prohibited use (a “klishe-meleahkto l’issur”) on Shabbat? The answer is two-fold:On the one hand, there are those that might look at the ID card as not even having the designated status of a kli she-mlakhto l’issur since the card itself does not function on its own as performing any type of prohibited work (“melaha”) per se. The card is not something electrical in and of itself and therefore it is not the card that ever does an action, rather it’s the machines that read the cards that perform the prohibited action on Shabbat and therefore the ID would be no different then say a library card with a bar code on its back. (Which, coincidentally, your Rutgers ID also happens to sport on its rear face.) In this regard, if we hold according to this opinion, there is no problem handling your ID on Shabbat or carrying, providing of course that there is a fully functioning eruv in the vicinity. But even if we were to say that the card is definitely a kli she-melahkto l’issur, in this regard we have two overwhelmingly strong reasons why it would be permitted to use and handle on Shabbat anyways. The first reason is that the card functions not only so as to hold your SS # and Student ID # on the magnetic strip, but it also contains a picture ID of yourself which can be used for visual ID purposes or verification. This use of the card is completely mutar (permissible) on Shabbat and would then make this card both a kli she-melakhto l’issur u’le-heter (an item that’s primary use is for a prohibited use as well as for a permissible use). Therefore as long as you would be using this card for its intended permissible use in this regard, then there would be no problem of muktzah on Shabbat.
The second reason it is permitted to carry this ID on Shabbat is similar to that above in that we have a general rule that a kli she-melahkto l’issur may be handled on Shabbat provided that it is being used for a permissible use. For example: a hammer – which is a kli she-melahkto l’issur - an item that’s use is primarily for a prohibited use – may be used on Shabbat to break nuts or as a door stop, since using a hammer in this fashion does not violate Shabbat prohibitions. Using a kli she-melahkto l’issur in this regard is called l’tzorekh gufo, or for “personal need” and is well within the confines of halakha. For the Shabbat meals at Brower Hall on Friday night, your student ID will not be scanned or swiped but will simply be used for visual recognition. For this reason students should feel confident that they are well within the bounds of religiously observing the Shabbat while still carrying and using their Rutgers ID for visual identification purposes.
To clarify any of these ideas or issues or if a student still has concern they should feel free to turn to me for any further questions or discussion. I can be reached at the OU-JLIC office on the second floor of the Rutgers Hillel at 732-545-2407 ex. 406 or also via cell at 860-305-3160. If you miss the opportunity to catch me before Shabbat but would still like to discuss this issue, I will be reviewing the matter publicly at the Rutgers Hillel Mesorah minyan on Friday night immediately following the evening prayers of Ma’ariv. And if you STILL miss me there, you will find me at Brower enjoying an awesome Friday night meal with the rest of our amazing students… Just look for the orthodox rabbi sporting the Rutgers ID that says “chaplain” on the front.
Have a wonderful and restful Shabbos!!
Sincerely,
Rabbi Akiva Dovid Weiss
OU-JLIC Rabbinic EducatorRutgers University - Rutgers Hillel
