yes we talk like this

[cellio]

At the Giant Eagle pharmacy:

Me: Here's a prescription, and a gift card from Big Pharma that will pay for three months' worth. If I mail-order it I can get three months' worth at once; can you do that for me?

Her: I don't know; I'm just the front-desk flunky. Do you want to leave it and we'll give you as much as we're allowed to?

Me: Sure.

After I did my grocery shopping I returned.

Her: Sorry, we're only allowed to do one fill-up at a time.

Me: I understand. Have we completed this transaction, then?

Her: Um, yes?

Me: Will you take as given that I walked out through that exit and then came back in, or do I need to actually do it?

Her: Nice try, but you have to wait a month.

Oh well. I have until the end of the year to use the gift card.

---

Dani: So you can read on Shabbat; can you use a Kindle?

Me: No, because you have to manipulate the controls. It's like changing the channels on TV; technically you can watch it if it's on but you can't change the channel or volume. (Pause.) I suppose if, before Shabbat, you set in motion a smooth scroll at a readable pace, that would be like programming the lights. But it seems unworkable.

Dani: What about software that tracks your eye movements and turns the page at the right time?

Me: Seems like manipulation to me. Next you'll be bringing up sentient lightbulbs again.

Dani: How good does the programming have to be before your software qualifies as a servant?

I have no answer to that. Halacha geeks?

Comments

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine has a coffee maker much like mine, which will grind the beans and brew the coffee for you on a programmable timer. He pointed out that it does no less than 3 of the Torah's classes of work: grinding, cooking, and sorting. In the course of this discussion, a rabbi said that Rabbi Moshe Feinstein was opposed to programming timers for things other than lights and AC/heaters. The fear was that one will come to "the George Jetson Shabbat'. In theory, there's no reason you couldn't have machines which without human interaction of any kind did things for you, but it would create problems with the 'spirit of Shabbat'.