Chapter 29
Laws Derived from Isaiah: Running, Walking, Commerce, Measuring, Reading, Speaking
BUYING AND SELLING ON BHABBATH AND YOM TOV
27.a. One is not allowed to buy something from an automatic vending machine,
1) even if it is activated, not by a coin, but by a token which can be purchased before Shabbath,
2) even if it is not electrically operated,
3) even if one is in need of the items one wishes to purchase for Shabbath and
4) even if one requests a non-Jew to activate the machine and take out the desired items.
27.b. The same prohibition applies to the use of a coin-operated scale. (See also Chapter 14, paragraph 37)
28. The position with regard to corporations which market their products through automatic vending machines as follows:
a. If one can assume that the machines would be used by Jews in violation of the Shabbath, it is proper for the proprietors of the corporation to see to it that the machines are not left in an operational state one Shabbath.
b. In a place where the users of the machines are non-Jews, the machines may be left in working condition over Shabbath.
