A Non-Jew Carrying a Child on Shabbos
Question
Greetings and blessings! We are, God willing, going on vacation abroad. We are a large family and will be staying there for about two weeks. We have one Sabbath to be there, and the preparation for the Sabbath is relatively difficult in terms of the Sabbath meals. There is a strictly kosher hotel 15 minutes' walk from the house where we will be staying. We want to go there for the two main Sabbath meals. We also have, thank God, babies in the group. Is it permitted halakhically to say or hint to a non-Jew to carry our babies on the Sabbath, back and forth, just for the two meals? And can we agree with him before the Sabbath that he will do this, and also pay him before the Sabbath for this?
Answer
Dear …!
It is permitted to tell a non-Jew to carry the children.
Since telling a non-Jew to perform labor on Shabbos is a Rabbinic prohibition, and we do not have a complete public domain (that would entail a Torah prohibition of carrying on Shabbos), and carrying a living person is also an act that is forbidden only Rabbinically — that’s three ways of reducing this labor to a Rabbinic prohibition. And a labor that is twice reduced to a rabbinic prohibition is permitted for a mitzvah. Therefore, here where the Shabbos meal depends on it, it is permitted.
Source
Shulchan Aruch, section Orach Chaim, Chapter 325