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Question posed by a Ba’al Teshuva: Based on the information published by “Halacha Yomit” throughout the past few days that if one performs a forbidden work on Shabbat, such as cooking a food, one may not partake of this food forever, if one laundered his clothing on Shabbat when he was irreligious and has since mended his ways and become a Ba’al Teshuva, will he be prohibited to benefit from these garments forever?
 
If an Irreligious Person can be Considered “Intentional”
Answer: First of all, if one launders a garment in a forbidden manner on Shabbat, he may not even wear this garment on Motza’ei Shabbat. However, if one does so unintentionally, the garment may be worn beginning from Motza’ei Shabbat as Maran HaShulchan Aruch (Chapter 318) rules, “If one cooks on Shabbat intentionally, he may not partake of the food forever, however, others may partake of the food immediately on Motza’ei Shabbat. If this was done unintentionally, it is prohibited (for all) on Shabbat, but it is permitted on Motza’ei Shabbat even for him.”
 
In our situation where this person lacked knowledge about the Torah and fear of Heaven and he was raised to view religious Jews as deprived and primitive people, there is much room to consider him “unintentional” and to permit him to make use of the garments which were laundered on Shabbat.
 
A Mixture of Clothing
An additional reason to be lenient here is that this person does not know for certain which garments were laundered on Shabbat, for some of the clothing in his house was washed on Shabbat and some was washed during the week. If so, we are now dealing with a “mixture” of clothing laundered on Shabbat and clothing laundered during the week. Since the prohibition to benefit from a forbidden work on Shabbat is not a Torah prohibition, rather, it is only a rabbinic enactment, this only constitutes a doubt regarding a rabbinic law. This is especially true since we have before us a mixture of clothing laundered on Shabbat and clothing that was not laundered on Shabbat and most of the clothing was certainly laundered during the regular weekdays, we can rely on the majority of clothing that was not laundered on Shabbat. (Since laundering the clothing again will incur an additional expense, this does not fall into the category of “an item which will eventually become permissible” which cannot be outnumbered. Unfortunately, we cannot explain this matter at length at this point.)
 
A Garment Laundered on Shabbat and then Laundered Again on a Weekday
Although all of the garments were at some point laundered on Shabbat, either the last time they were laundered or the time before, nevertheless, since the garments have since become soiled again and were laundered again on a weekday, it is no longer prohibited to wear them.
 
Although Hagaon Ben Ish Hai writes that if a handkerchief was laundered on Shabbat and was since soiled again and laundered once again on a weekday, there is no way to permit it, nevertheless, Maran Harav Ovadia Yosef Shlit”a in his Chazon Ovadia-Shabbat, Part 4 (page 441) disagrees with his opinion and writes that our Sages only banned benefitting from the product of a forbidden work on Shabbat when one benefits from the actual forbidden work; however, if the garment is soiled again and is laundered on a weekday, there is no longer any benefit from the forbidden work which was performed on Shabbat and the handkerchief may be used without concern.
 
Summary: Regarding our scenario where it is uncertain whether or not the garments have been laundered last on Shabbat and the person has now merited returning to his roots, he is permitted to use these garments as he wishes.

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