It seems to me that a hybrid car, especially one with an all-electric mode, might actually be more likely to be acceptable to an Observant Jew, since a combustion engine creates real, identifiable fires, while an electric car creates sparks, which are slightly more questionable. But anyone who splits hairs that finely is probably so Orthodox that driving on the Sabbath in general is probably out anyway.
As it was explained to me by more observant Jews than I (or else I wouldn’t be posting, would I?), I understand “light a fire” to mean more like “making a machine work” than literally meaning “fire”.
That would explain the Sabbath setting on the oven (which I’ve never heard of, how awesome! I do know people who would leave one burner of their stove on a low setting throughout the Sabbath, though, so, yes, it’s been done before), and also how even a TV can stay on – but the station can’t be changed 
My understanding is that elevators in Israel still work on the Sabbath, but the BUTTONS don’t. They are set to go floor by floor automatically all throughout the Sabbath so nobody has to push a button to make the machine work.
I hope **Zev ** will correct me if I’m wrong!
If I’m not mistaken, the prohibition on Sabbath labor extends to hooking a draft animal to a cart and riding around the neighborhood in it (the cart). That would extend (fairly) logically to not assuming control over a motor vehicle.
Well, I don’t admire devotion to faith. I just admire integrity and not trying to weasel out of a commitment by following the letter of a rule while ignoring its spirit.
Oh I don’t know.
If you can’t mix certain foods and be kosher, if you’re not supposed to blend different fibers together, then you probably shouldn’t be mixing two different kinds of propulsion units in the same vehicle. 
The electricity rule can be particularly problematic for observant Jews living in high rise buildings. Some observant Jews won’t even use an electrified machine even if they don’t directly operate it. See Shabbat elevators.
Not a problem - for Jews. The pork prohibition is only dietary.
It’s Muslims that have problems with the animal itself and its parts.
Is anybody else hearing Walter from The Big Lebowski while reading this thread? "My point is, here we are, it’s shabbas, the sabbath, which I’m allowed to break only if it’s a matter of life or death… "
I called it “Zev’s 614th Mitzvot” years ago, but it never seemed to catch on.
- Zev referring to an Orthodox Jewish Doper – from Brooklyn, too! – who usually answers questions about Orthodox and shomer Shabbat practice.
I’m surprised no one’s posted a link to this staff report:Can traditional Jews do no work at all on the Sabbath?
Inevitable nitpick: That should be Mitzvah, as a singular word. Mitzvot is the plural form.
A pet peeve of mine: Please don’t verb nouns. At any rate, the verb in question would be some form of t’hor for “purify.” Alternately you could get a very tiny knife…
On electric use: I have come across discussions (not sufficiently sourced for GQ evidence) that electricity falls under the work prohibition of making and unmaking – closing a circuit (such as turning on a light) makes something complete, and opening a circuit unmakes something. When Zev or another of the usual Hahamim stops by, I’d like a cite that discusses this question.
On electric cars on Shabbat, if electric use is permissible: Not happening. The principle of making a fence around the Torah applies here. Conventional cars are prohibited under the rule against making a fire, and a pure electric car looks enough like a conventional car that (much like legumes on Pesach) the electric car would be prohibited as giving the appearance of violating a prohibition.
Sorry, Ben! I should really know better than to try to treat a language I don’t know with the same offhand, twist-and-stretch attitude that you can with English.
Are you sure that’s the reason? I thought they had a lot of breakdowns for a big company, but maybe it’s a religious prohibition.
I used to work for an ultra-religious Kosher organization in L.A., and they never prohibited me from accessing their network on the Sabbath.
FWIW, the ‘Sabbath Mode’ on certain brands of ovens is misnamed, as it’s really intended for use on Jewish holidays, when cooking is permitted even though nearly all of the Sabbath rules are in force. One can’t cook on the Sabbath, even on a pre-existing flame - it’s a separate prohibition from that of lighting fires.
WRT B&H’s online system, there’s an idea that one should not profit from one’s business being open on the Sabbath, even if you’re not personally doing any work then. There are various workarounds, but presumably B&H is choosing not to use them.
Scuba Ben - there are a bunch of reasons considered in the Rabbinic literature for why turning electric lights/appliances on would be prohibited on the Sabbath, and one of them is indeed that you’re completing a circuit, and finishing things (literally ‘makeh b’patish,’ or the final stroke of a hammer) is considered a form of work. A good summary of the whole discussion is in the Spring 1991 edition of the Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society here.
[Technical aside]The question of hybrid cars might raise the question of plowing with an ox and a mule together, which is prohibited in the Torah. [/joke]
They have a message that pops up if you go to their site during the Sabbath saying that they are not taking orders from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday.
Interesting. (Although unless they give the reason for the shutdown, we are just assuming it is related to Jewish law.) I guess they must be more ultra-orthodox than a bunch of orthodox Rabbis who enforce strict Kosher laws.
The owners of B&H are Hasidic Jews. They are distinct from the ultra-orthodox in many regards, but are known for “piety beyond the letter of the law.”
Thanks! I’ll curl up with that article some time this week.
NPR had a little feature a few years ago about a workaround some Jews used. They arranged for a gentile to come around in the morning to turn on the lights, ovens, and such things that the Jewish families were not allowed to do on the Sabbath.