“Taping” time

You know about that halachah/Jewish law that forbids the use of electricity on Shabbat/Sabbath unless the device was either turned on before Shabbat or is turned on by someone not obligated to observe the Sabbath (a non-Jew) or by a pre-set timer?

Well, two Shabbatot/Sabbaths ago, we found ourselves forgetting, and turning the bathroom light on and off on Shabbat. So last week before Shabbat, I put tape on the lightswitch, taping it fixed in the “on” position.

Last Shabbat, we kept forgetting and turning the kitchen light on and off. So this past Friday, before Shabbat, I taped the kitchen lightswitch on.

Yesterday, we kept forgetting about the bedroom light, so next Friday, before Shabbat, I’ll tape the bedroom lightswitch off. We’ll manage.

That’s the easy part.

The harder part will be the other kind of “taping.”

To be precise, I still have to learn how to program the DVR.

But that’s not really the biggest problem.

The real issue is that I love to watch television on Friday night because it's the only night of the week that I don't do any work.

I don’t enter bills into our financial records.

I don’t print checks to pay said bills.

I don’t reconcile bank statements.

I don’t cook.

I don’t clean.

I don’t do laundry.

To be frank, time management is not one of my strong suits. But, that being the case, when else am I going to find three hours to watch Sci Fi Friday, if not on Friday?

Yes, I know that watching tv on Shabbat, since it requires one to turn on an electrical device, is considered working on Shabbat.

But it sure doesn’t feel like work.

Which brings me to my next post . . .