Answer: The Shulchan Aruch (OC 307:4) allows one to give a non-Jewish person
money before Shabbos for them to purchase something providing that they don’t
specify that they should buy it on Shabbos. The Taz (OC 307:3) writes, however,
that if one tells the non-Jewish person that they’re leaving on motzaei
Shabbos, it is as if they specified that it must be purchased on Shabbos as
there is no other realistic time for them to purchase it.
Following this, R’
Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss (Minchas Yitzchak 6:25) writes that one mustn’t book a
taxi to be waiting for when Shabbos ends as inevitably, one is instructing the
taxi driver to drive to their location on Shabbos. One would have to wait at
least as long as it would take for the driver to arrive from the taxi rank or
an average journey.
R’ Shalom Gelber and R’ Yitzchak Rubin (Orchos Shabbos 2:23:65), however, argue that the
taxi driver’s journey to pick one up is incidental and not part of the
instruction. They quote the Taz (OC 276:3) and Mishna Berura (276:27) who write
that one is allowed to ask a non-Jewish person to wash their dishes even if
that means that they will inevitably switch the lights on. Although they are
doing so in order to perform something on your behalf, this is considered as
doing so for themselves. Likewise, as the driver brings their car in order to
perform their job, this is considered as if they are doing so for their own
needs.
In conclusion, one is allowed to ask a non-Jewish driver to
pick them up immediately after Shabbos even though they will be driving on
Shabbos to get there.
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