Halakhah sa Exodo 35:3: Mishneh Torah, Rest, Mishneh Torah, Sabbath, Gray Matter II & Sefer HaChinukh

Any act that is culpable on the Sabbath is punishable with lashing if it is committed on a holyday and not for the purpose of food. This does not include the prohibition against conveying objects from one domain to another, and the prohibition against starting a fire on the Sabbath. Since the transfer of objects from one domain to another has been made permissible for the purpose of preparing food, it has been made permissible even for purposes other than food preparation.— — So too, it is permissible to start a fire on a holyday even when it is not needed for the preparation of food. Other acts, however, are permissible on a holyday only when they are needed for the preparation of food; for example: slaughtering, baking, kneading, and the like. Therefore it is permitted on a holiday to bring out a child or a Torah scroll or a key, and that which is similar to these from domain to domain. --- And all things [the purpose] of which are not the sake of eating are forbidden, such as writing, and weaving, and building and that which is similar to them.

[A court] may not punish on Shabbat. Even though the punishment is a positive commandment, it does not override [forbidden types of work on] Shabbat. How is this? If one surely become liable for lashes or the death penalty, we neither give him lashes nor kill him on Shabbat; as it is stated (Exodus 35:3), "You may not kindle fire in all of your inhabitations on the Shabbat day"—this is a prohibition to the court that, on Shabbat, they not burn someone who became liable for burning. And the same is true with the other punishments.

Members of Hatzoloh (New York’s Jewish volunteer ambulance corps) asked Rav Moshe Feinstein if they could drive home after completing a rescue mission on Shabbat (Teshuvot Igrot Moshe, Orach Chaim 4:80). Rav Moshe presented an original interpretation of the Gemara, Tosafot, and Rambam mentioned above and concluded that one may even violate Biblical prohibitions, such as driving, when returning from a rescue mission.¹⁵Driving a car repeatedly violates the Biblical prohibition of hav’arah (kindling a fire; Shemot 35:3), as every push of the accelerator feeds more fuel to the engine.