Overall a pretty good synopsis but you left out a vital aspect of how we (orthodox Jews) celebrate the sabbath. There are 3 meals–not just meals–but really banquets–with several courses. Besides the great food, and the singing of special songs that are sung at the table in honor of the Sabbath-- it’s a time for the family to sit together once a week, every week–without any outside interference (no phone, television, stereos–nothing) and just be together. I tell my kids (we have 7) stories and we just talk. The Sabbath table is the center of the sabbath (the 2 main meals, Friday night and Sabbath morning can sometimes take 2 hours each), it’s the essential part, and the most beautiful part. If you are Jewish and have never experienced it nows the time. Orthodox Jews in general love to have guests at their sabbath meals so I hope you soon find your way to someones table.
We assume then that the meals have been prepared in advance of the sabbath? So they are cold dishes? Is it OK to use the electricity of the fridge then to keep the dishes from spoiling from the start of the sabbath? Or are the dishes left out after midnight and served lukewarm (hoping for no naughty toxins to have installed themselves)?
Say isn’t the placing of the food on serving plates and the bringing of the banquets to the table “work” ? And what about the clearing of dishes from the table? And the bringing of new dishes to the table?
And since it must be forbidden to actually wash the dishes–do the remains from the three banquets just pile up in the kitchen?
-Curious
Yes, cooking is work, so meals would be prepared in advance. Alternately, slow-cooking meals are set up Friday afternoon and allowed to simmer all day.
AFAIK, it’s okay to keep food in the fridge, since the machine switches itself on and off. However, under Orthodox rules manually turning an electric circuit on or off is work, so the fridge bulb must be unscrewed or the switch taped down.
Serving food isn’t work under the Shabbat rules, in and of itself. Clearing dishes from the table runs into logistics issues – under some traditions, washing dishes is considered work.
Added on edit: Link to article.
OK, I think some further clarification is needed here. We (observant Jews) do use electricity in Shabbat in many ways – e.g., we don’t sit in the dark. As correctly described before, we as Jews may not perform “melacha” – a creative act, including turning electricty on or off for example. But electricity and electric appliances and machines can continue to “work” on Shabbat without our interaction. So, e.g., we can use the refigerator which has been running continuously and put food in and take it out (since chilling food is not a “melacha”) but we turn off the fridge light because otherwise we would be truning it on or off on Shabbat when we open and close the fridge door. Similarly, we leave lights on, as needed, and can have them turned on or off if we like on a timer set before Shabbat. Same with airconditioning. (TV not, becuase that would very much not be in the spirit of Shabbat). Food can be kept warm on a hot plate, and hot water in a coffee urn.
Believe me, Shabbat is very pleasant – and needed more than ever in a society where we are expected to be on call 24/7. Try imaging a family meal that’s never interuppted by a phone call, and where no one is rushing off to watch a TV show or finish work etc.
One final note: these rules are of course suspended to the extent necessary for health emergencies or the like.
And to all, a Good Shabbat/Shabbos – or as we say here in Israel, Shabbat Shalom (a peaceful Sabbath),
Tamar
Hooray, my first guest contribution is finally published!!
Chaim, the question at hand wanted specifically to understand work on Sabbath - to understand how something as minor as flipping an electrical switch can be work, and how a bunch of strings on poles can permit someone to do something that is otherwise forbidden. Obviously, there are other aspects to Sabbath celebration, including the feasts and zemiros, but an exploration of all aspects of Sabbath would have been way beyond the limits of the Staff Report format, and/or the interests of its audience.
Cleo, the meals must be fully cooked before Sabbath, but an existing fire can be used (within certain limits) to keep them hot, and in foods cooked without liquid, even to warm up (again, within certain limits) what had already cooled. In fact, it is a tradition since the days of the (Greek-era) Pharisees to especially serve a hot dish at the Sabbath afternoon meal, to make a point that they disagreed with the Saduccees in their opinion that all fire usage was prohibited. The hot dish known as “chulent” (spelling can vary) is usually served in keeping with that tradition. Food can definitely be refrigerated. Most Rabbis have no problem with refrigerator usage, as the compressor’s switching on or off is not fully controlled by human intervention. A few are strict, but even those say that one can open the refrigerator door and put food in if the compressor is already running. Washing dishes is no problem, though you need to use a non-absorbent scrubber rather than a sponge, and in some home-heating arrangements, only use cold water. (Also, one should only wash what will be necessary for Sabbath, as it is considered disrespectful of the Sabbath to “prepare for a weekday” on the holy day, even in ways that do not involve forbidden work.) And serving food is no problem either. The full Staff Report, which has since been linked to, should give you a better idea of what is or isn’t “work.” (though if you still have questions after reading it, I’ll be happy to help).
Would it be allowed to set your TIVO timer on Friday to record a show on Saturday?
/sounds spurious but I’m really curious
It would be permitted. Timers that are set before Sabbath are widely in use amongst observant Jews. Some might quibble that TV is not in the spirit of Sabbath (during which is supposed to be thinking spiritual and holy), but that doesn’t make it a prohibition.
Ed, a small but meaningful typo to correct in the Staff Report - in the paragraph that begins “Now, carrying is forbidden”, one sentence says “Since the area is not a single private domain…” That “not” should be “now”.
Thanks!
I’d like to also note that the restrictions against work are often interpreted as a prohibition. The intent of Shabbat is to give everybody in society something that for most of history was restricted to the upper class – the delight of not having to work, for just one day a week.
I understand that in Israel, in most large hotels, the elevators are programmed to stop at every floor on the way up and every floor on the way down, from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday. That way, no one is pressing a button to do any work, they are just using a machine already working. This is akin to unscrewing the light bulb in the fridge and removing or replacing food.
This is correct, except that generally only one elevator (perhaps two in really large hotels) is programmed that way. The rest of the elevators continue working normally. This elevator is marked by a small sign beside it.
Also, the “Shabbat Elevator” has its display turned off (you don’t know at which floor it is) – anyone of the respondents know why? (it isn’t like anybody is actually controlling the display manually)
frubes, that is correct - and not limited to Israel. In New York City, many hospitals and apartment buildings have Sabbath elevators as well. That’s the reason the article doesn’t say there’s anything wrong with riding an elevator, only summoning one.
Noone Special, the reason for keeping the lights off in an elevator is because despite the fact that there is no intentional human intervention in Sabbath-elevator usage, the extra weight of the person riding the elevator has an effect on the usage of electricity in the elevator’s movement. The doubts surrounding whether or not electrical current is itself a form of fire make certain leniencies possible in general elevator usage, but (as the staff report indicates) more Rabbis are certain that electric lights specifically (as in the display of the elevator) are a prohibited usage of fire or cooking, and that would eliminate the allowance of leniency. So Sabbath elevators keep their displays off (or fixed to a certain image, not varying by floor) in order to keep the leniency possible.
Here in Montreal there was a scene a few years ago when a citizen went to court to have an eruv near her house taken down - she felt this was a violation of her rights because she was having religion forced upon her.
The judge (I cannot remember his name, just that I liked him a lot) pointed out that church bells ring all the time in Montreal (the City where if you throw a stone you break a stained glass window), imposing other religion just as much… He then asked what activity the citizen felt the eruv was preventing her from participating in.
The only activity the woman could come up with was… flying a kite.
In his ruling the judge pointed out that as the citizen had admitted to never actually having a desire to fly a kite in front of her house (in downtown Montreal) she had not really been deprived of her right to enjoy life. Case dismissed!
I’m wondering how the restriction affect dressing and undressing. If tying knot/untying knots is prohibited, does that mean you can’t wear laced shoes? Or pyjamas with knotted waist cords? Or robes with tied sashes?
Or does analogy carry it even further? If electricity is ‘similar’ to fire, is using snaps or hooks and eyes or even zippers considered too similar to tying knots, or maybe to sewing? With the attachment of one piece of material to another and all.
Great article, very interesting. Thanks!
Now what can a Sabbath (Shabbos?) Goyim do, or is using one a sort of cop-out?
First, congrats to CMKeller on his first staff report… we hope for more!
Second, just to remind everyone that questions posted today (Saturday) won’t be answered by traditional sabbath-observant Jews until tomorrow, so be patient.
DrDeth, the short answer is that role of “sabbath goy” is controversial and complicated. In way back times (prior to electric timers), it was permitted to hire a non-Jew before the sabbath to help with some specific work that needed to be done on sabbath. For instance, to turn on the lights or heat in the synagogue. The rules for sabbath only apply to Jews, and so that was a “way around” the strict rules. There are limits on what the non-Jew can do for the observant Jew – like running a business – and that’s where we get into lots of complications.
What are the consequences for breaking a Sabbath rule?
Thanks! While not observant myself, I know there is always a logical explanation why something is or is not allowed, and I like knowing the reasoning. This little bit had always escaped me!
A somewhat dubious position:
It should be noded, however, that a Jew may take advantage of something a gentile has done for his own reasons. The classic example is that it is permissible for a Jew to leave a ship via a gangplank that a gentile lowered so that he, himself, could leave the ship.
How far does this idea extend? I am of Jewish heritage, but almost totally nonobservant. I used to have an Orthodox co-worker, and she invited me to her son’s Bar Mitzvah. I would have like to go, but apparently I was not allowed for this purpose to make my own decisions about observance - my friend, as an observant Jew, was not allowed to be the cause of another Jew, however nonobservant, breaking the Sabbath.
So as the synagogue was not within walking distance of home for someone with my gimpy ankle, and I was not willing to accept her (very kind) offer of staying with a friend of hers within walking distance of synagogue the night before, I couldn’t go. Driving was, of course, not an option, but why were taking a bus (which was going to be running anyway) or having non-Jewish friends who were also attending pick me up on the way there not viable options?