Methinks I'll listen to our son
After hours of searching, via Internet and phone, my hard-working husband finally succeeded in finding us a place to stay for the first two nights and days of Pesach/Passover that's within walking distance of the two sedarim in which we'll be participating.
Unfortunately, it's within walking distance horizontally, but not vertically--if I've ever in my life walked up that many flights of stairs, it was so many years ago that I've forgotten about it.
Our son the Ph.D. candidate in Physics has insisted for years that electricity is absolutely not a form of fire. I've decided to follow his scientific logic and push elevator buttons on Yom Tov in our temporary housing.
The irony is, of course, that the whole point of our getting these reservations was to avoid violating halachah/Jewish religious law. Do we get an E for Effort, at least?
Unfortunately, it's within walking distance horizontally, but not vertically--if I've ever in my life walked up that many flights of stairs, it was so many years ago that I've forgotten about it.
Our son the Ph.D. candidate in Physics has insisted for years that electricity is absolutely not a form of fire. I've decided to follow his scientific logic and push elevator buttons on Yom Tov in our temporary housing.
The irony is, of course, that the whole point of our getting these reservations was to avoid violating halachah/Jewish religious law. Do we get an E for Effort, at least?
posted by Shira Salamone at 1:02 PM
11 Comments:
Since electricity flows from a source by ceasing to be cut off (as I've been told) rather than kindling a new fire, as it were, using electricity on Yom Tov is probably the most acceptable to traditional understandings of halakha of any "non-Orthodox" p'sak.
My understanding is that electricity on Yom Tov was normative until about 40 years ago.
The three possible reasons for prohiting electricity are:
1. Fire
2. Cooking
3. Completion of something began before Shabbat/Yom Tov
Fire is clearly wrong and normally not given as the reason any more. However, many Conservative Jews give that as the reason to debunk it, I've never heard an Orthodox source refer to electricity as fire.
Cooking is the most legitimate one, because Rambam specifically referred to heating a metal until it glows as cooking. An incandescent lightbulb, the original use of electricity, is absolutely heating a metal until it glows. Whether that should expand to all electricity is another question. The prohibition on cooking does NOT apply on Yom Tov.
Completing Something incomplete. This is the normative one normally given. It's logically problematic, because a switch is really a door (in fact, electrical schematics show them as a gate/door). They are designed to open/close. In fact, in a push button switch, when you release your finger, it's re-opened, so it's not really closed.
I'm not convinced that there is much of an actual problem with electricity, but the avoidance of it has become the primary "marker" of contemporary observance.
That said, if you're worried about a magnetic card reader being an issue, then the elevate button definitely is.
If you're in a decent sized hotel, you can normally wait for a few minutes and someone will run it for themselves because they're going down, and likely ask about the button if you just stare at the door confused on the way up... :)
Maya, that sounds similar to the logic that a former rabbi of ours, several rabbis back (Conservative, a JTS grad) used to use. He was of the opinion that the "fire" was already started at the power plant, so the person flicking a switch wasn't actually starting a "fire," but, rather, was using a pre-existing "fire," and, therefore, it was permissible to turn lights on and off on Yom Tov.
"Completing Something incomplete. This is the normative one normally given. It's logically problematic, because a switch is really a door (in fact, electrical schematics show them as a gate/door). They are designed to open/close. In fact, in a push button switch, when you release your finger, it's re-opened, so it's not really closed."
Miami Al, maybe that's our son's logic.
"I'm not convinced that there is much of an actual problem with electricity, but the avoidance of it has become the primary "marker" of contemporary observance."
I had heard, probably from that previous rabbi of ours, that, originally, some Orthodox rabbis considered ruling that the use of electricity on Yom Tov was permissible, but decided against it precisely because the Conservative Movement permitted it.
"That said, if you're worried about a magnetic card reader being an issue, then the elevate button definitely is."
Time for me to think this through again. If there's not an actual problem with electricity use on Yom Tov, then neither the magnetic card reader nor the elevator button should be an issue.
The magnetic stripe reader is much more similar to the radar in front of a store door. You're arguably causing something that is forbidden (and even that is arguable) to happen via a permitted action. Would putting a magnet on or off your fridge be a problem? Of course not, and the magnetic strip is effectively the same issue. It's a magnet, not electric.
That said, take away the electricity restriction, and most of contemporary Shabbat observance goes away. People don't think about not coloring, writing, reaping, sewing, etc., they think about not using their phone. So while electricity with solid state electronics is problem not that significant halachically, it's hugely significant culturally.
" . . . take away the electricity restriction, and most of contemporary Shabbat observance goes away."
Good point, Miami Al. I have carefully considered how I would handle electricity in the future, when my ability to climb stairs may very well be limited, and have decided that I'll probably push elevator buttons, rather than being a prisoner of my apartment. But I think that using electricity for anything else on Shabbat/Sabbath or Yom Tov/major holiday would really detract from the restful nature of the day.
From a C point of view this is obviously not a problem.
But from an O point of view, there is a compromise position that might work for you. Actual pushing is a no-no, but some rabbis say that being on the elevator is fine as long as you let others do the pushing. See in particular-
http://www.aishdas.org/articles/rmjb_electricity4.pdf
In particular see page 895 footnote 88
oops, page 85
Woodrow/Conservadox, thanks for the link. I'll check it when I'm not working on a major project at office. For now, I'm still at the stage of being willing to hint to the shul Shabbos Goy, who's being paid to take hints (e.g., "the light's off in the Ladies Room"), but I'm not yet ready to ask a random person. I'll think about it.
I've always heard that to use electricity, one creates a circuit, which is the problematic part.
Post a Comment
<< Home