Soc.Culture.Jewish Newsgroups Frequently Asked Questions and Answers URL: www.scjfaq.org/faq/07-16.html

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Question 7.16:
Would it be disrespectful to call an Orthodox Jew on the telephone at at time when it is not Shabbat for the Jew, but was still Shabbat for me?

First, thank you for your sensitivity.

There is a commandment in the Torah prohibiting "putting a stumbling block before the blind". Aside from the literal meaning of these words (which would not require a separate prohibition in addition to everything else prohibiting such cruelty), the verse is also taken to including leading another to sin. From there emerged a rabbinic prohibition against enabling another to sin, even if you are not strictly the cause. As the call recipient would see your calling to be a sin, it would probably offend their sensibilities to think they were the purpose of such a call.

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