6
votes
Accepted
Use of an automatic toilet on Shabbos?
Halachipedia brings a number of opinions permitting this
R Josh Flug (Sukkot To Go 5770, p. 27) writes that it is certainly permissible to use a toilet with an automatic flusher if no
other ...
- 54.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Source for electricity in the times of the Talmud?
The story you are looking for is about the Tosafist Rabbi Yechiel of Paris. From a quick search it seems like the source is from Éliphas Lévi in his book Histoire de la magie, (The History of Magic), ...
- 1,887
5
votes
Accepted
Bishul Akum with Electricity
This exact view is cited here in his name. The reason given is that the action of "lighting" such an oven only sends a short pulse to activate the electric heat, but the electricity which ...
- 21.2k
4
votes
Accepted
Who is worried about affecting a refrigerator's thermostat on shabbat?
R Howard Jachter wrote here a long article on the topic -- find a summary below with light edits. To immediately answer the question of those who rule more strictly he cites R Tzvi Pesach Frank, R ...
- 54.1k
4
votes
Audio Recording on Shabbat/Yom Tov
Recording on shabbat is linked to use of microphones on Shabbat (since you require microphones to record). It might be in this context that you heard R Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (RSZA) being quoted since ...
- 54.1k
4
votes
Did Orthodox Jews turn on/off lightbulbs etc on Shabbat in the early 20th century?
In the biography "A Kabbalist in Montreal: The Life and Times of Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg" author Ira Robinson states (p. 131):
By the early twentieth century, a consensus within the Orthodox ...
- 9,590
3
votes
Source for electricity in the times of the Talmud?
Adding to what @simyou wrote, Éliphas Lévi likely read the story in Giulio Bartolucci's bio-bibliographical work "Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinica", vol. 3, pp. 833-835, where he brings a Latin ...
- 28.4k
3
votes
Using modern electronic devices (refrigerators, air conditioners, digital water meters) on Shabbat
The disagreement with these devices(disregarding light bulbs in fridges or fans in ovens, at the moment) is whether grama or pesik reisha d'lo neicha lei are permitted on shabbat; assuming we accept ...
- 887
3
votes
Air purifier with LED sensor on Shabbat
Rav Nachum Rabinovitch, shlit"a, (who holds electricity is only, at worst, an issue of uvda d'chol [weekday activity] has ruled allowing the use of hotel key cards even when they trigger an LED (see ...
- 17.9k
2
votes
Audio Recording on Shabbat/Yom Tov
It is forbidden to speak into a tape recorder even if the recorder was turned on before Shabbat
Igrot Moshe OC 3:55 forbade recording a shiur on Shabbat or the like since speaking into it might ...
- 3,879
2
votes
Can one disconnect an emergency lamp from power on shabbat?
Most agree that the emergency torch is a keli shemelachto le'issur (a utensil with a prohibited use). Such a utensil can be moved for its own use or to liberate the space it occupies. (see here and ...
- 48.7k
2
votes
Is a Highwire Eruv allowed?
The Mishna Berurah here 362 s.v. 64 quotes a number of tshuvos that discuss telegraph wires. He does not write what they say, but he does say see there, implying you should rule with those opinions.
...
- 34.1k
2
votes
Why is turning on a faucet not considered molid or boneh?
Pipes under your sink -even water is not flowing through them- is still a fully functional pipe (כלי), just as a cup without liquid in it is still a cup. But a broken circuit is just that a "...
- 562
2
votes
Tweeting on Shabbat: d'oraita or d'rabbanan violation?
I will not deal with the issue you had with Safek Pikuach Nefesh as not enough details were given. I will deal mainly with the issues of Kosev relating to an electronic screen.
The recent Poskim have ...
- 1,201
2
votes
Microphones on Shabbat
According to those who maintain that microphones are prohibited on Shabbat (see, e.g., Rabbi Yisrael Rosen's thorough summary of the views, cited by @mbloch here), it should still be permitted to "...
- 17.9k
2
votes
Why aren't Shabbat Lamps muktzeh?
One may move a utensil designated for a prohibited act, if it's with the intention to use it for something permissible (OC 308:3). Even if a lamp is completely Muktzeh, perhaps we can prove that it is ...
- 3,357
2
votes
Why aren't Shabbat Lamps muktzeh?
From here written by Rabbi Doniel Neusdadt
Question: On Shabbos, may an electric lamp be moved to another location so that the light will not disturb one’s sleep?
Discussion: This should be avoided, ...
- 1,201
2
votes
Why aren't Shabbat Lamps muktzeh?
Some are lenient and in fact hold that LED lamps are not muktzeh at all. https://dinonline.org/2013/09/22/moving-led-flashlight-on-shabbos/
- 685
1
vote
Leaving a phone perpetually on on the Sabbath
I've heard the general reasoning that even though you may or may not be violating Shabbat, things should be abstained from in the spirit of Shabbat. In other words, if there's doubt about something ...
- 1,522
1
vote
Leaving a phone perpetually on on the Sabbath
An argument could be made that any speaking is causing more electrical activity -- though likely this would be prohibited at either the rabbinic level or extra-serious-custom level; some amount of ...
- 136k
1
vote
Shutting lights off during Chol Ha'moed, to save electricity
There are 5 categories of work permitted on Chol Hamoed (from this book on Chol Hamoed laws)
Work needed for the festival (tzorech hamoed)
Work needed to prepare food
Work that must be done to ...
- 54.1k
1
vote
Accepted
Is it permitted to turn off a time switch on Shabbos?
It seems to me that the question is very much alike the known discussion about whether it is permitted to open the refrigerator on Shabbat, when the majority of the possekim allow you to open the ...
- 84
1
vote
Dimmer Lights on Yom Tov
Newer dimmer switches work by a computerized circuit: pushing the switch causes a circuit board to relay to a motor to adjust the resistance on the wire, where more resistance translates to a dimmer ...
- 34.7k
1
vote
Asking a non-Jew to turn off a light on Shabbat
In Rabbi Ribiat's "39 Melachos Book" (vol 1, pg 64)--cited in this Halachapedia.com footnote-- he rules that "one may not ask a non-Jew to shut the lights."
As usual with these type of things, best ...
- 12.2k
1
vote
Can a "brain controlled" prosthetic be used on Shabbat?
There are two schools of thought on electricity in Shabbos.
The Chazon Ish holds that closing a switch is boneh, building, and therefore a forbidden labor on Shabbos.
Rav Auerbach argues that the ...
- 398
1
vote
Conductivity of living things and Shabbat
The body is not a good conductor of electricity, it would be considered an insulator. However, even with a high voltage you can pass electrical current through anything, this is called dielectric ...
- 10.5k
1
vote
Being in a photo on Shabbos
I found in the book " Otzar Hatshuvos by Rabbi Abraham Scheinberg (great book, highly recommend)" a intresting question. The question was" a boy who was drafted in the army is asked to pose for a ...
- 42.7k
1
vote
On Shabbos, may someone turn off a switch of an electric-eye controlled light while the light is off?
The following addresses the case where the switch controls only the power for the light. That is to say, the switch does not also turn off something in the electric eye circuit.
The Chosen Ish holds ...
- 398
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