Inviting outside help into the home can be a real blessing, especially when it lightens the load of running a busy household. At the same time, Jewish homes come with their own unique spiritual “ecosystem,” and certain halachic safeguards must be in place: kosher, yichud, Shabbat, timely payment of workers, and more.

Many of these laws are straightforward once the underlying principles are understood; others require a bit of planning ahead. What follows is a practical overview of the main halachic considerations when employing non-Jewish household help, along with workable solutions that allow the home to remain both welcoming and fully aligned with halachah.

How to Keep the Kitchen Kosher

One of the more challenging aspects of employing non-Jewish household help is maintaining the kosher kitchen. Several precautions are needed to ensure that the home’s kosher standards remain fully intact:

Non-Jews can’t cook for Jews unless a Jew lights the fire, as food cooked solely by a non-Jew can render both the food and cookware non-kosher (bishul akum).1

Uncooked (non-mevushal) wine must also be inaccessible to non-Jews to prevent it from being handled and becoming non-kosher.2

Non-Jewish helpers left unsupervised in the home could inadvertently use non-kosher food or utensils, or mix up meat and dairy foods.

There are several options to prevent kashrut concerns when a non-Jewish helper is left alone at home:

  • Put away any non-mevushal wine somewhere that is inaccessible to the non-Jewish help.
  • Implement a yotzei v'nichnas (lit. “coming in and out”) system, where you arrange for Jewish household members to make unannounced check-ins.3
  • Install monitored security cameras in the kitchen and inform the helper of the surveillance so they know to be careful.

(These systems work because the possibility of being caught prevents the helper from mishandling kosher items.)

  • If proper supervision isn't possible, simply limit or lock access to the kitchen. Restrict access to kosher-sensitive items like meat, dairy, bread or non-mevushal wine to prevent substitution with non-kosher food. Pots, pans and ovens should also be secured to prevent their use for non-kosher food or for mixing meat and dairy. You don’t have to lock everything; taping cabinets or disabling appliances (e.g., shutting off the oven) is good enough.

If you do need the housekeeper to prepare hot food, speak to a rabbi since the halachah would depend on the type of food and other factors.

Yichud: Inappropriate Seclusion

In general, according to the laws of yichud, a man should not be alone with a girl above the age of three, and a woman should not be alone with a boy above the age of nine, unless they are immediate family members or there are other mitigating factors.4

Two mitigating factors that allow a man to be alone at home when a female housekeeper arrives are:

  1. Petach patuach: an open door to the street or visible window through which passers-by could see.5
  2. Ishto meshamrato: his wife is nearby and may enter at any moment.6

Based on these principles:

If the man is alone and the housekeeper arrives, he should leave the door open or be in a place visible to the public, such as near a street-level window with the drapes open, to create a petach patuach.

If his wife is nearby and could return at any moment—such as when she is visiting a neighbor or briefly out at a nearby store—the door may remain closed. The door may even be locked if she has a key, but should be left unlocked if she does not.7

However, if his wife is away for an extended period or not expected home (such as when she’s at work), the ishto meshamrato allowance does not apply, and a petach patuach is required.8

See our article What You Need to Know About the Laws of “Yichud” for a number of conditions as to when these solutions help, as well as other possible mitigating factors.

Paying on Time

Torah requires us to pay workers on time. A day-worker must be paid by sunset of the day the work is completed, and a night-worker by dawn after the shift. Make sure to pay your cleaning help promptly when they finish their work.9

There are several exceptions:

  • Fixed pay periods: If the cleaning help is hired by the week, month, year or for regular times, the deadline becomes the end of that pay period.10
  • Lack of available funds: If you truly do not have the money at the time payment is due, you are exempt until you obtain it. Once you do, you must use it to pay. While not required, it is praiseworthy to borrow money to fulfill this mitzvah. If you have only part of what is owed, you should pay that portion immediately.11 However, if you know that you will not have money to pay, then you aren't allowed to hire them in the first place (unless they agree).12 If you have the money but need it to pay a utility bill that is likely to be cut off for nonpayment, consult with a rabbi.
  • Agreement to delay payment: If both parties agree before the work begins that payment will be made later, you may delay payment until the agreed time.13

It should be noted that ordinarily, you’d violate this mitzvah only if the worker actually asks for payment at the due time and you refuse.14 Nevertheless, to avoid any issues, if you expect you may not be able to pay on time, the best practice is to inform your cleaning help beforehand.

Working on Shabbat

As a rule, we may not instruct non-Jews to transgress Shabbat. This is known as amira le’nochri. Halachah distinguishes between two types of workers:15

Kablan (Contractor): A kablan is hired to complete a job or produce a finished product (e.g., repair a car, clean a suit, sew a dress) for a fixed price, regardless of when he does the work. Once he accepts the job, he is viewed as acting for his own benefit and on his own schedule. Even if he chooses to work on Shabbat, it’s his decision.

Sechir-Yom (Day-Laborer): A sachir yom is paid by the hour or day. If he works on Shabbat, he is considered to be working directly on behalf of the Jew, which is forbidden.

Live-in Domestic Worker

A live-in housekeeper is generally considered a kablan, since she is hired for a set period (week, month, year) at a fixed wage rather than an hourly rate. Therefore, if she chooses on her own to finish chores on Shabbat, it would not be considered amira le’nochri.

However, it is normally forbidden for a non-Jew to perform work on a Jew’s property on Shabbat because of mar’it ayin (appearance of wrongdoing). Even for a live-in maid, this remains an issue. Therefore, most are of the opinion that a live-in maid may not perform any forbidden acts for a Jew on Shabbat unless the same conditions that exist for a part-time help are met (see below).16

There are, however, some who allow it under certain conditions (see footnote17).

Additionally, the sages forbade benefiting from work a non-Jew does for a Jew on Shabbat—even without being asked—if it provides a significant benefit to the Jew. For example, you may not use the light she turned on in a dark room. But if the room was already sufficiently lit, additional light is permitted. Benefiting from lack of light (e.g., she turned off a light) is allowed.18

Part-Time Help

A part-time housekeeper is a sachir yom and is considered to be working directly for the Jew. Generally, she may not be asked to do anything that the Jew himself may not do on Shabbat.

However, several leniencies apply:

If there is another way: If she chooses to do it in a forbidden manner, there is no need to intervene, provided it is not a zilzul Shabbat ( “degrading” Shabbat by doing a conspicuous prohibited tasks). For example, if you ask her, “Please wash the dishes; I don’t mind if you use cold water,” and she uses hot water with a sponge, you don’t need to stop her. Similarly, you can say, “Please wash the floor; I don’t mind if you just pour water and dry it,” even though she will likely use a mop.19

Rabbinic prohibitions: Asking a non-Jew to perform a rabbinic prohibition is permitted in these cases:

  • For a mitzvah: e.g., carrying a sefer or tallit across the street without an eruv.
  • Great necessity: e.g., asking her to break a lock if someone is locked out.
  • Significant financial loss: e.g., asking her to move an item to prevent theft (if it does not require carrying in a public domain).
  • Minor illness: e.g., applying liquid medicine to gauze and placing it on a wound. (For a person whose whole body is ill, even biblically forbidden work may be asked of a non-Jew.)

For more on this, see: Asking a Gentile to Do Forbidden Work on Shabbat

Paying for Work on Shabbat

Assuming you had the housekeeper do work in a permissible manner, the question of payment still needs to be addressed.

In general, a non-Jew may be paid for services performed on Shabbat (e.g., a waitress or a taxi driver for someone who is ill), but the actual payment may not be made on Shabbat, even without handling money directly, since any form of payment is considered a forbidden transaction. So you can’t simply prepare an envelope on Friday with cash for a worker to take before leaving your premises on Shabbat.

There is an exception for extreme cases, such as a medical situation. You can make the payment on Shabbat without actually handling the money (for example, show them the money and have them take it themselves). For ordinary cases (like a waiter or cleaning help), payment should be arranged before or after Shabbat.

(By contrast, a Jew may not charge for work done on Shabbat.)

For more on this, see Handling Money and Doing Business on Shabbat