electricity
Apr. 23rd, 2002 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioThere are halachic issues with using electricity on Shabbat, but some Conservative authorities permit it. I have sometimes wondered about the reasoning to determine what is and is not permittted; is the Conservative rabbi who turns lights on and off on Shabbat acting within that halacha? Here's another small bit to add to the data pile.
From Rabbi Simcha Roth, Rabbincal Assembly in Israel (Masorti):
"... However, those Conservative authorities that permit the making and breaking of an electric circuit on Shabbat and YomTov did not and do not intend to permit the use of electricity for any purpose which is directly prohibited by Torah. Thus, accepting that halakhah follows Tanna Kamma, while they permit the making and breaking of a circuit they would not permit the electricity thus released from being used, say, to cook food on Shabbat."
(From RMSG April 22nd 2002 / Iyyar 10th 5762 [Pesachim 82])
I'll read the discussion of this mishna more thoroughly later; I was just skimming email and saw this go by. There doesn't seem to be more discussion of this particular point, but I could have missed it. (The mishna is nomially about how to cook the Pesach lamb, but as with all talmudic discussion, tangents abound.)
From Rabbi Simcha Roth, Rabbincal Assembly in Israel (Masorti):
"... However, those Conservative authorities that permit the making and breaking of an electric circuit on Shabbat and YomTov did not and do not intend to permit the use of electricity for any purpose which is directly prohibited by Torah. Thus, accepting that halakhah follows Tanna Kamma, while they permit the making and breaking of a circuit they would not permit the electricity thus released from being used, say, to cook food on Shabbat."
(From RMSG April 22nd 2002 / Iyyar 10th 5762 [Pesachim 82])
I'll read the discussion of this mishna more thoroughly later; I was just skimming email and saw this go by. There doesn't seem to be more discussion of this particular point, but I could have missed it. (The mishna is nomially about how to cook the Pesach lamb, but as with all talmudic discussion, tangents abound.)
Re: One possibility...
Date: 2002-04-24 07:10 am (UTC)I may have said this before, but I get around the fridge issue (there's a light in the fridge) by the following logic: the light on the fridge is on all the time.
Not that I use tape or anything, just that I refuse to believe that it's not on when the door is closed. I mean, whenever I open the fridge door, the light's on. Saying that it's off when the door is closed is mere supposition. Next thing ya know, you're going to tell me the sun stops shining after it passes below the horizon...
You make other interesting points, which I shall comment on (or not) later. Too much LJ for me today...
Re: One possibility...
Date: 2002-04-25 07:33 am (UTC)Since I use duct tape every Friday I'm home, I can assure you that my fridge light isn't always on. *giggle*
Re: One possibility...
Date: 2002-04-25 09:00 am (UTC)Re: One possibility...
Date: 2002-04-25 02:21 pm (UTC)I really don't think that duct taping your fridge door shut is a good way of dealing with the problem. :-)
I personally refuse to let a little thing like the facts stand in the way of a good paradoxical theory... although I probably shouldn't say that if I want to get picked for a Jury tomorrow...