A Note on Shomer Shabbas Residency

There is much discussion regarding the attitude religious medical students should have when considering ranking shomer shabbas residencies. There are two components to keeping shabbas. One is the prohibition from doing certain actions (basically, the 39 melachos) and two is the obligation to celebrate shabbas (rest, make kiddush, not fast etc). Other than a few notable exceptions, almost all rabbis will agree that we are allowed to do melacha on shabbas for our patients, especially considering that most melacha that we do during residency is according to most rabbis a d’rabbanan at best (using electrical equipment etc). Therefore, when we discuss the issues with working on shabbas we are primarily addressing concerns of not celebrating shabbas appropriately. Instead of spending time with our families over a shabbas table we are running around an ICU taking care of patients. It is of course permissible to take care of patients in the ICU but we are missing out on the celebratory aspect of shabbas. So, for most of us, when we discuss having shabbas off we are not discussing a prohibition of working on the seventh day of the week, but rather, we are discussing how on shabbas we would prefer to be home over the hospital. It is part of our overall wellness during residency.

Therefore, for those of us considering which residency programs to go to and are appropriately going to ask a rabbi for advice on how to rank programs. I urge you to ask specific questions. Obviously, the answer to the question “should I go to a program where I will always be able to be home for shabbas vs. a program where I will often work on shabbas” is the former. But the answer to a more specific question may not be as obvious. “Should I rank a shomer shabbas program or a program where I will receive better medical training,” “ Should I rank a shomer shabbas program where I will only have off for shabbas and chag and will be working every other shift and will constantly be tired or should I rank a program where I will have more time off overall and will be more available for my family,” or “should I rank a shomer shabbas program not near any large dating markets or should I rank a non-shomer shabbas program in an area where it will be easier for me to meet my future spouse.”

And for those of us already not in shomer shabbas programs, I encourage us to stop feeling guilty about working on shabbas. We are engaged in noble work that few others can truly appreciate. Yes, we sacrifice the mitzva of resting on the seventh day of the week and sometimes we may even have to work on Yom Kippur but who else gets to proudly proclaim they have brought someone back from the brink of death. That does of course also give us the responsibility of being intimately familiar with hilchot shabbas so we know the most appropriate ways to do our noble work. And it can be very confusing especially as different rabbis will have different opinions over what the preferable way to do melacha on shabbas is. Often, we may be working alongside other religious residents on shabbas and conducting ourselves very differently depending on who we asked. But that is also an exciting component of our responsibility. How many other people need to be familiar with the halachot of gozez—questions such as can we shave hair to place ECG leads or biopsy a possibly malignant lesion on shabbas? There are wonderful resources available and Rabbanim that would be happy to help us navigate these programs. But let us be proud of the unique responsibility we have saving people’s lives on a daily basis.