Electricity on Shabbat: Difference between revisions

Rabbi Yitzchak Schmelkes Beit Yitzchak Hashmatot YD 2:31 asserts that talking into the phone is also a problem of making a noise, or hashmaat kol. Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach Minchat Shlomo page 67 and Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg Tzitz Eliezer 1:20:10 both disagree based on the Rama 338:1 where he rules that the prohibition of making a noise doesn't apply when this is done through a human voice. Since talking into the phone increases the electrical current being used, Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss Minchat Yitzchak 3:38 and 3:60 prohibits based on that. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach MInchat Shlomo page 110 says the increase in current is not a problem in appliances where heat is not created</ref>  

# Some say it is a good practice to unplug the phone before [[Shabbat]] so that if someone calls on [[Shabbat]] one won't hear it ring. <ref>Menuchat Ahava 24:10 </ref>

# It is forbidden to speak into a tape recorder even if the recorder was turned on before [[Shabbat]]. <ref>Menuchat Ahava 24:13, Yechave Da'at 2.57 </ref>

# It is permitted to use an electric blanket on shabbat, provided one does not move the knob that adjusts it.  It is proper to place scotch tape on top of the knob in order to prevent oneself from accidentally adjusting the blanket on shabbat. <ref> Igrot Moshe 3.50, Menuchat Ahava 1.24.37, Yechave Da'at 2.49 </ref>

* Rabbi Yisrael Belsky in Shulchan HaLevi 7:7 permits using this type of bathroom if there is no other bathroom available, but if there’s another option, he forbids using the electrical toilet. Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz ([http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/761805/Rabbi_Aryeh_Lebowitz/Ten_Minute_Halacha_-_Using_Automatic_Bathrooms_on_Shabbos “Using Automatic Bathrooms on Shabbos”]) quotes Rav Belsky as saying that kavod habriyot would not be a leniency in order to wash one’s hands with an automatic sink. </ref>

==Setting timers before Shabbat==

# One may set an alarm clock before [[Shabbat]] even though it will make noise on [[Shabbat]]. <ref>The Shabbos Home (Rabbi Simcha Cohen, vol 2, pg 537) and Sh"t Maharshag YD 1:7(2) permit. However, Sh"t Igrot Moshe 4:70(4) only permits if it is not heard outside his personal room. See Shemirat Shabbat KeHilchata 28:29 (and 28:30 in new edition) who permits before [[Shabbat]] for mitzvah purposes setting a mechanical alarm clock that involves removing a pin (see there). </ref> See [[Making music on Shabbat]].

# Some forbid leaving a digital photo frame which presents a slideshow of pictures set from before [[Shabbat]] to continue during [[Shabbat]]. <ref>[http://www.ou.org/webcast_kosher Rav Hershel Schachter] (OU Kosher Webcast, 2011, min 16-8) </ref>

# One isn’t allowed to read by a candle (wick in oil) on [[Shabbat]] because there is Gezerah that one will come to tilt the wick. <Ref> Mishna [[Shabbat]] 11a says that it’s forbidden to read by the light of a candle because one will come to tilt the wick. Rashi explains that if one tilts to wick (which is flickering) towards the oil so that it lights well, one will be violating Mavir (lighting a flame on [[Shabbat]], which includes adding fuel to a flame). S”A 275:1 quotes this as halacha. Kitzur S"A 80:1 agrees. </ref>

# There is a dispute whether the Gezerah applies to a kerosene lamp. Thus, if one wants to read by a kerosene lamp on Shabbat, one should make a recognizable sign that says “Today is [[Shabbat]]” to remind oneself no to fix the lamp on Shabbat in order to satisfy all opinions. <Ref> Bet Yosef 275:12 quotes a dispute between the Rif, Rosh, Tosfot and Rabbenu Chananel who permit checking cups by a kerosene candle because it produces a lot of light and there’s no concern one will tilt the wick against the Rambam 5:16 who forbids a kerosene candle based on a difference in versions of [[Shabbat]] 12b. S”A 275:12 rules stringently like the Rambam. However, Ramban ([[Shabbat]] 12b) explains that even those who permit a kerosene candle because it produces a lot of light are only lenient by checking cups for cleanliness, but to read by the light even the Rif and Rosh will forbid. Lechem HaPanim (Kitzur S”A 80:16), Misgeret Zahav (Kitzur S”A 80:1), and Sh”t Mekor Chaim O”C 6 write that a kerosene lamp is permitted because the flame doesn’t decrease and one can set it to give off as much light as one wants before [[Shabbat]] and so there’s no concern one will tilt the wick. Mishna Brurah (Buir Halach D”H VeEin) writes that this leniency isn’t so clear, but one can rely on it to learn Torah, especially in a Bet Midrash. Mishna Brurah permits if one hangs a sign by the lamp that says “Today is [[Shabbat]] and it’s forbidden to light a fire” for a few reasons. Kaf HaChaim 275:13 argues that because one can increase the flame when necessary, it’s forbidden to read by a kerosene lamp. [Sh”t Ani Chomah O”C 19 asks on the Kaf HaChaim that the clearly when the Lechem HaPanim and Mekor Chaim permitted they knew that one could increase the flame but still permitted because one doesn’t usually increase the flame.] Yalkut Yosef (Kitzur S”A 275:2) rules like the Mishna Brurah. </ref>

# One is permitted to read by electric lights. <Ref> Sh”t Yacheve Daat 6:20 holds that even those who are strict by a kerosene lamp will allow an electric light because it produces a clear flame and gives off a lot of light [the leniency of a kerosene lamp, which produces a lot of light and the leniency of a wax candle, which produces a clear flame.] Additionally, Sh”t Yachave Daat adds that we shouldn’t make extend Chazal’s Gezerah of a oil and wick to electric lights because we aren’t allowed to make new Gezerah’s or add to preexisting ones (Magan Avraham 301:58). Thus, Sas Anochi (Kuntres Rach VeTov pg 78c) and Sh”t Yashkil LeAvdi O”C 2:9 who are strict by a kerosene lamp if it’s made of multiple candles, allow electric lights. Sh”t Yachave Daat also argues that electric lights are permitted because Chazal only forbad tilting a wick already in oil but permitted adding more oil [the same distinction is found in Sh”t Igrot Moshe O”C 93 concerning leaving food from before [[Shabbat]] on a gas flame.] On the other hand, Sh”t Shoel VeNishal 1:76 forbids reading even by electric lights based on a Hagahot Asheri ([[Shabbat]] 12b) who is uncertain about a wax candle even though there is no issue of tilting the wick and so too any lighting should be forbidden even though there is no issue of tilting (because of Lo Palug Rabanan, the Rabbis didn’t differentiate in their Gezerah’s). However Sh”t Yacheve Daat (in the footnote) argues that we shouldn’t forbid because of the Hagahot Asheri’s uncertainty as this is a matter of Derabanan (see there as there are some Achronim who say Safek Derabanan LeKula doesn’t apply to a Safek that we don’t know the halacha. Additionally Bnei Tzion 265:3 explains that the Hagahot Asheri was uncertain when a Gezerah doesn’t have any reason to apply whether it should be permissible or forbidden as the Rabbi’s extend their Gezerah to any case as in the case of a mirror that’s not sharp enough to cut hair ([[Shabbat]] 149a) as Rabbenu Moshe (quoted in Ran) rules. However, since in the case of [[Shabbat]] 149a, Rif, Rambam, and Rosh, S”A 302:13 permit mirrors that can’t cut, then, so too wax candles aren’t forbidden([[Getting_Dressed#cite_ref-3|Getting Dressed]]). </ref>

==Using a light bulb for [[Shabbat]] Candles and Havdala==