Shabbat: Non-Jew Cleaning
Question
In our shul after davening and kiddush. Can we ask goy to wash the floors from the mess of the kiddish
Answer
Shalom!
Thank you for your question.
It is permitted to ask a non-Jew to clean the floors on Shabbos.
This is based on a famous ruling of the Taz who writes that one may instruct a non-Jew to wash the dishes on Friday night even if one knows that the non-Jew will light a candle to make the washing easier. This is because the Jew gains no benefit from the light and only wants clean dishes. How the non-Jew gets those dishes clean is of little concern.
Based on this precedent, one is permitted to tell a non-Jew to “clean the floor,” even though the non-Jew will do so in ways that Jews are forbidden to do, as, for example, by squeezing a mop and the like.
In other words, one is permitted to tell a non-Jew to do anything that a Jew can do even though the non-Jew will do it in a forbidden manner.
Source
Mishnah Berurah 276:27.