Teshubah on Electricity on the Shabbath

7/31/2019 Teshubah on Electricity on the Shabbath

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Teshubah On the Use of Electricity on Shabbath

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Talmud Babli Masehet Shabbath 70a

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Shabbath 40b

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Hilkhot Shabbath Mishneh Torah Chapter 12

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Bonh

The Chazon Ish wrote that closing an electrical circuit to create current was Biblicallyprohibited as building, and opening a closed circuit was the corresponding prohibited

act of destroying. - Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach disagreed vigorously with theChazon Ish. Among other reasons, he claimed that building and destroying must befundamentally permanent in nature, whereas most electrical devices are routinelyturned on and off at will, and the person who turns it on usually intends that it will beturned off at some later point, and vice versa. Building an item that is fundamentallytemporary in nature is at most a rabbinic prohibition, and Rabbi Auerbach claimed thatopening and closing a circuit is like opening and closing a door, which is not prohibitedat all. "

Makh Bapatish

Closing a circuit to render a device operational might also violate the Biblical prohibitionofmakh bapatish(striking the final hammer blow, i.e. completing a product). Theargument would be that an electrical device is not complete because it does notfunction unless the electricity is turned on.

Rabbi Auerbach and Rabbi Yaakov Breisch strongly disagree because makhbapatishrefers to a fundamentally permanent act that requires great effort, and turningon an electrical appliance is fundamentally temporary because it will be turned off, andrequires a minimal amount of effort. (Minhat Shelomo pp 101-102).

CombustionCombustion is a chemical reaction that occurs between a fuel and an oxidizing agent

that produces energy, usually in the form of heat and light.


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Conduction of Electricity

Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from thepresence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizablephenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in anelectrical wire. In addition, electricity encompasses less familiar concepts such asthe electromagnetic field and electromagnetic induction.

Electric charge is a property of certain subatomic particles, which gives rise to andinteracts with the electromagnetic force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature.Charge originates in the atom, in which its most familiar carriers arethe electron and proton. It is a conserved quantity, that is, the net charge withinan isolated system will always remain constant regardless of any changes taking placewithin that system. Within the system, charge may be transferred between bodies,either by direct contact, or by passing along a conducting material, such as a wire. Theinformal term static electricity refers to the net presence (or 'imbalance') of charge on abody, usually caused when dissimilar materials are rubbed together, transferring chargefrom one to the other.

The presence of charge gives rise to the electromagnetic force: charges exerta force on each other, an effect that was known, though not understood, in antiquity. Alightweight ball suspended from a string can be charged by touching it with a glass rodthat has itself been charged by rubbing with a cloth. If a similar ball is charged by thesame glass rod, it is found to repel the first: the charge acts to force the two ballsapart. Two balls that are charged with a rubbed amber rod also repel each other.

However, if one ball is charged by the glass rod and the other by an amber rod, the twoballs are found to attract each other. These phenomena were investigated in the lateeighteenth century by Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, who deduced that charge

manifests itself in two opposing forms. This discovery led to the well-known axiom: like-charged objects repel and opposite-charged objects attract.

The force acts on the charged particles themselves, hence charge has a tendency tospread itself as evenly as possible over a conducting surface. The magnitude of theelectromagnetic force, whether attractive or repulsive, is given by Coulomb's law, whichrelates the force to the product of the charges and has an inverse-square relation to thedistance between them. The electromagnetic force is very strong, second only instrength to the strong interaction, but unlike that force it operates over all distances. Incomparison with the much weaker gravitational force, the electromagnetic forcepushing two electrons apart is 1042 times that of the gravitational attraction pulling

them together.


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There are seven fundamental methods of directly transforming other forms of energyinto electrical energy:

Static electricity, from the physical separation and transport of charge(examples: triboelectric effect and lightning)

Electromagnetic induction, where an electricalgenerator, dynamo or alternator transforms kinetic energy (energy of motion) intoelectricity, this is most used form for generating electricity, it is based on Faraday'slaw, can be experimented by simply rotating a magnet within closed loop of aconducting material (e.g Copper wire)

Electrochemistry, the direct transformation of chemical energy into electricity, as ina battery, fuel cell or nerve impulse

Photoelectric effect, the transformation of light into electrical energy, as in solarcells

Thermoelectric effect, direct conversion of temperature differences to electricity, asin thermocouples, thermopiles, and Thermionic converters.

Piezoelectric effect, from the mechanical strain of electrically anisotropic moleculesor crystals

Nuclear transformation, the creation and acceleration of charged particles(examples: betavoltaics or alpha particle emission)

Legislation according to Talmud

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Minhag

Rabbi Auerbach rejects all the fundamental reasons for prohibiting electricity as citedabove, except for turning on an incandescent light which is considered lighting a fire.Nonetheless, he prohibits using any electrical appliances absent great need becauseShabbat-observant Jews have traditionally acted on the assumption that usingelectricity on Shabbat is prohibited. Thus, according to this opinion, the prohibition ofelectricity on Shabbat is a minhagwithout a substantive reason in the laws ofShabbat.

Conclusion

As it has been shown above, it is evident that the use of electricity on the Shabbathand/or yom tobin not considered a derivative of either eshor uhr. The Talmud Babliestablishes the parameters for the derivatives of fire.In fact, fire is inducted by achemical process called combustion, which requires the element of oxygen. On theother hand, electricity is conducted by the movement of electrons in atoms, creatingfriction, which in turn produces heat. Moreover, on yom tobthere is another matterwhich does not apply to the Shabbath called molid. The prohibition of using somethingwithout intent before the yom tobdoes not restrict the use of electrical stoves.However, on the Shabbath it is clear that the use of electrical stoves for cooking should

be prohibited because of the principle ofbishullaid down in the Torah. In terms ofusing electricity for lighting, it is clear that on yom tobthere is no problem, and sincenone of the ab melakhot that appear to restrict its use on the Shabbath are held byTalmudic law, it is safe to permit its use. However, none of the ab melakhothshould beperformed with electrical appliances. Finally, the majority of orthodox Jews prohibit theuse of electricity on Shabbath and yom tobas a matter of law based on a tradition onnot using it. However, as it has been shown above, customs and traditions cannot belegislated as permanent laws after Rab Ashe and Rabina. Perhaps there was doubt inthe early 20th century in regards to the use of electricity on these festive days,nevertheless, by now we should have a clear scientific knowledge as to how electricityis conducted and how to distinguish it from the Talmudic terms eshand uhr. Our Sages

of blessed memory have laid the principle of applying the Torah and Talmudic laws inevery generation and circumstance through the thorough scrutiny of every matterbefore prohibiting or permitting a matter. For sure, the use of electricity on theShabbath and yom tobwill not be the last of its sort.

Yehonatan Elazar-DeMota20 Shebat 5772Dominican Republic

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Teshubah on Electricity on the Shabbath