Asking on Shabbat

Regarding the principle of shhvut d'shvut, a double rabbinic commandment. I examined and asked [in my dream] about carrying a lit candle on Shabbat, which is forbidden because of shvut, a rabbinic prohibition. I asked whether it is permitted to ask a non-Jew to carry the candle from place to place, since even for a Jew the only reason to refrain from doing so is the rabbinic decree, or whether asking a non-Jew to do something on Shabbat is always considered shvut even when the action being requested is not forbidden by the Torah itself, since the rabbis forbade making such requests.

They answered: "Now you stand here with me" (Deuteronomy 5:27) "And I shall give you the instructions and the laws that I have written to inform them" (Exodus 24:12) "Let no hand touch it, for stoned or shot" (Exodus 19:13) will be anyone who touches their words, "it is like touching the pupil of their own eye." (Zechariah 2:12) For in many places, the sages made their own laws stricter than those of the Torah. All this they responded to me.

§ The Gemara provides a mnemonic device for the distinguishing letters in the various names of the sons of Rav Pappa in the ensuing list: Ḥet beit dalet, beit yod ḥet, beit ḥet nun. Rabbi Aḥa bar Pappa says the following three statements in the name of Rabbi Abba bar Pappa, who said them in the name of Rabbi Adda bar Pappa. And some say Rabbi Abba bar Pappa says them in the name of Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Pappa, who said them in the name of Rabbi Aḥa bar Pappa. And some say Rabbi Abba bar Pappa says them in the name of Rabbi Aḥa bar Pappa, who said them in the name of Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa. The three statements are as follows: The court sounds the alarm on Shabbat over a breakout of sores; and a door that is locked will not be opened quickly; and with regard to one who purchases a house in Eretz Yisrael, one writes a bill of sale for this transaction even on Shabbat.

...And with regard to one who purchases a house in Eretz Yisrael, one writes a bill of sale for this transaction even on Shabbat. The Gemara asks: Can it enter your mind that one may write this bill of sale on Shabbat? Writing on Shabbat is a prohibited labor for which one is liable to receive the death penalty. The Gemara explains: Rather, this is as Rava said there, with regard to a similar issue, that one tells a gentile to do it, and he does so. Here, too, it is referring to a situation where he tells a gentile to write a bill of sale for the house, and he does it. And even though telling a gentile to perform an action that is prohibited for a Jew on Shabbat is generally a violation of a rabbinic decree, as the Sages prohibited telling a gentile to perform prohibited labor on behalf of a Jew on Shabbat, here the Sages did not impose this decree, due to the mitzva of settling Eretz Yisrael.

(9) A Jew is permitted to instruct a gentile to perform an activity that is not a [forbidden] labor and is prohibited from being performed on the Sabbath only as a sh'vut.[This leniency applies] provided that this is necessary because of a minor infirmity, a very pressing matter, or a mitzvah.

(10) What is implied? On the Sabbath, a Jew may instruct a gentile to climb a tree or to swim across water to bring him a shofar or a knife for circumcision. Similarly, [one may instruct a gentile] to bring hot water from one courtyard to another to wash a child or a person experiencing difficulty, although an eruv was not made to join them. The same applies in all similar situations.

(11) When a person buys a house in Eretz Yisrael from a gentile, he is permitted to tell the gentile to compose a deed of sale on the Sabbath. Giving the gentile instructions [to perform a forbidden labor on the Sabbath] is a Rabbinic prohibition, and because [of the importance] of settling Eretz Yisraelthe Sages did not enforce their decree in this instance.
Similarly, the above principles apply when one purchases a house from [a gentile] in Syria, for Syria is equivalent to Eretz Yisrael in this regard.