The Jewish Star reports:
The Long Island Rail Road’s special “Sundown Service” train got off to a very rocky start last Friday with the train arriving 34 minutes late, right at candle lighting.
The train, which began its special service that day, left Penn station at 2:39 p.m. and was supposed to arrive in Far Rockaway at 3:46. instead the train was delayed twice, first at Jamaica because of an equipment problem, and a second time at Valley Stream because of track work, according to Sam Zambuto, a spokesperson for the MTA. Zambuto said the LIRR is currently working into why the track work was not shortened to support the train.
The train finally chugged its way into Far Rockaway at 4:20, one minute before candlelighting, though by then, most of the religious passengers had disembarked in a mass exodus at the Valley Stream station.
“Everyone was giving each other rides,” explained Judith Gold, whose husband picked her and a fellow passenger up at Valley Stream.
“I would like to extend the LIRR’s sincerest apology for the delay in customers returning to observe the Sabbath,” Zambuto said, adding that the LIRR is adding additional controls to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
(Source: The Jewish Star)
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5 Responses
Had they arrived after shkiya, they would NOT have been an oy’nes, they would have been poshaya!!! Any rov worth their salt would tell his congregation that too!
Mark, read the article. It says “Most of the religious passengers had disembarked in a mass exodus at the Valley Stream station.”
Had they arrived after shkiya, they would NOT have been an oy’nes, they would have been poshaya!!! Any rov worth their salt would tell his congregation that too!
Oy’nes and poshaya in what, there is no issur in disembarking from a train on shabbos, there is no techum issue here the only issue may be hotzoah but there is an eruv in those neighborhoods.
Mark,
In fact, I had an issue with a shabbos guest of mine that was on a delayed train that would arrive on shabbos. She could have gotten off at an earlier stop and found a Jewish family to stay at for shabbos, but my rov said she should 100% stay on the train until she arrived. pinay is quite right, there is no issue to travel on or disembark the train once shabbos begins. Hotzah is an issue, however, and the stations on the Far Rockaway branch of the LIRR (woodemere, cedarhurst, lawrence, inwood, and far rockaway) are actually not within the eruv.
All the naysayers …. Halachikly perhaps they could stay on the train. There would be problems with carrying as well as other shabbos issues too. The bottom line is, leaving Manhattan on that train is halachikly INCORRECT!