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It doesn't really matter whether electricity is fire or not, many of the Jewish religious rules (Halacha), are there to keep the cultural and the day to day lif

It doesn't really matter whether electricity is fire or not, many of the Jewish religious rules (Halacha), are there to keep the cultural and the day to day life in a certain way (like any other religion). Allowing electricity in Shabbat will completely change the Jewish life, and the amount of impact the community has on the individual. There's another rule in the Halacha that says you must keep Shabbat different from any other day, that rule for example is one of the reasons you can't turn on your TV prior to Shabbat, and watch it without pressing buttons.

iso1631 5y ago
> Allowing electricity in Shabbat will completely change the Jewish life, and the amount of impact the community has on the individual. That's fine, I can respect that. Jewish life 1000 years ago did not have people getting in elevators, so with this "hack" Jewish life has changed. I find working around the spirit of the law to keep within the letter hilarious.
- null_deref 5y ago
  https://oukosher.org/passover/articles/selling-leaven/ https://oukosher.org/passover/articles/selling-leaven/ In Passover you aren't allowed to own certain foods, you arrange a sale to a non-jewish person, you may still keep the foods locked in your house, at the end of Passover you purchase them back (You both know the sell was fictive). Jewish traditions have fascinating ideas and principals, but also those ridiculous hacks.
TchoBeer 5y ago
>Allowing electricity in Shabbat will completely change the Jewish life, and the amount of impact the community has on the individual. you only think this because electricity was _already_ prohibited. Imagine a world where electricity was not prohibited on shabbat (as could very well be our world if the rabbis decide it so). We would not say "electricity destroys the spirit of shabbat" because not using electricity on shabbat is only part of the spirit after it's prohibited. The reason why it was banned in the first place, as far as I could tell, was that when electricity was new incandescent lightbulbs were basically its only common application (and those are obviously ma'avir [lighting a fire]), so the rabbis of the time gave a very generalized ban on electricity which stuck.
- sevrinsky 5y ago
  The grounds for probihiting electricity usage on Shabbat have gone through something of a metamorphosis, as rabbinic scholarship on the nature of electricity has expanded and the mechanisms used by electrical devices have evolved. Given my digital-oriented profession and lifestyle, if it were not for the fact that all electronic devices are forbidden, I would find myself drifting back to work-related tasks ("oh, let's just see if this gets it to compile") to the point of losing Shabbat entirely. The blanket ban has saved my Shabbat and is part of the day's special distinctiveness.

iso1631 5y ago

> Allowing electricity in Shabbat will completely change the Jewish life, and the amount of impact the community has on the individual. That's fine, I can respect that. Jewish life 1000 years ago did not have people getting in elevators, so with this "hack" Jewish life has changed. I find working around the spirit of the law to keep within the letter hilarious.

null_deref 5y ago
https://oukosher.org/passover/articles/selling-leaven/ https://oukosher.org/passover/articles/selling-leaven/ In Passover you aren't allowed to own certain foods, you arrange a sale to a non-jewish person, you may still keep the foods locked in your house, at the end of Passover you purchase them back (You both know the sell was fictive). Jewish traditions have fascinating ideas and principals, but also those ridiculous hacks.

TchoBeer 5y ago

>Allowing electricity in Shabbat will completely change the Jewish life, and the amount of impact the community has on the individual. you only think this because electricity was _already_ prohibited. Imagine a world where electricity was not prohibited on shabbat (as could very well be our world if the rabbis decide it so). We would not say "electricity destroys the spirit of shabbat" because not using electricity on shabbat is only part of the spirit after it's prohibited. The reason why it was banned in the first place, as far as I could tell, was that when electricity was new incandescent lightbulbs were basically its only common application (and those are obviously ma'avir [lighting a fire]), so the rabbis of the time gave a very generalized ban on electricity which stuck.

sevrinsky 5y ago
The grounds for probihiting electricity usage on Shabbat have gone through something of a metamorphosis, as rabbinic scholarship on the nature of electricity has expanded and the mechanisms used by electrical devices have evolved. Given my digital-oriented profession and lifestyle, if it were not for the fact that all electronic devices are forbidden, I would find myself drifting back to work-related tasks ("oh, let's just see if this gets it to compile") to the point of losing Shabbat entirely. The blanket ban has saved my Shabbat and is part of the day's special distinctiveness.