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By DENNIS PRAGER

In contemporary Jewish life, few practices so identify a Jew as observant or non-observant as whether one drives on Shabbat. Driving on Shabbat has taken on an almost mystical significance. To all Orthodox, and to most other observant Jews, it is inconceivable that a Jew can observe Shabbat if he or she drives -- or even rides in -- a car on that day.

What needs to be stressed is that the issue is not at all merely one of observing or violating halachah (Jewish law). After all, a Jew is halachically forbidden to carry an item into the public domain on Shabbat. Yet, a Jew who carries tissues to synagogue is hardly regarded as a mekhalel (a "desecrator" of) Shabbat -- despite the fact that the Talmud says the ban on carrying comes from the Torah -- while a Jew who sits in a car for 10 minutes while a non-Jew drives is completely dismissed as a mekhalel Shabbat.