[QUOTE=AskNott]
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.
[/QUOTE]
The Shabbas Goy. I know that practice was discussed here several times but since I can’t search on “goy” (damn 3-letter words!), I can’t find the threads.
The Wikipedia article on Shabbat mode also mentions refrigerators with a special setting where the lights and other electrical activity turns off when you open the door. And I remember seeing a Shabbat-mode elevator when I visited Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City a few years back.
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn]
And I remember seeing a Shabbat-mode elevator when I visited Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City a few years back.
[/QUOTE]
I saw one at NYU Medical Center a couple of years ago. I also ended up alone in the elevator with an Orthodox gentleman and he looked very uncomfortable and shrank into the corner. I kept thinking, I know, I’m not supposed to touch you and I don’t think that could happen even by accident!
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn]
The Wikipedia article on Shabbat mode also mentions refrigerators with a special setting where the lights and other electrical activity turns off when you open the door. And I remember seeing a Shabbat-mode elevator when I visited Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City a few years back.
[/QUOTE]
The fridge light turns OFF when you open the door? That must use a lot of juice when it’s closed!
The elevator mode you describe stops and opens on every floor. That way, you can just walk on and wait for your floor to appear. No need to press anything, which would “create a circuit”. At least that’s the way it was described to me.
[QUOTE=suranyi]
This has been asked and answered many times on the Straight Dope, and if you want a definitive answer, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow, when the Orthodox Jews will be able to use computers.
But in short, this has nothing to do with hybrids. Orthodox Jews (and I know many) do not drive any kind of car on the Sabbath.
Ed
[/QUOTE]
For some reason this was the first post that appeared when I opened this thread, and I stared at this post, mystified, wondering if it was a joke or a metaphor or what. 
(I had no idea Orthodox Judaism had all these Amish-y prohibitions)
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
For some reason this was the first post that appeared when I opened this thread, and I stared at this post, mystified, wondering if it was a joke or a metaphor or what.
(I had no idea Orthodox Judaism had all these Amish-y prohibitions)
[/QUOTE]
The difference is that Orthodox Jews have no problems driving cars and using electricity the other six days of the week.
Ed
[QUOTE=AskNott]
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.
[/QUOTE]
This practice was quite common in the olden days (pre-1950s, say), although (strictly speaking) you can’t really get around a prohibition by asking someone else to do it for you. Nowadays, they use electric timers as a way to “legally avoid” the prohibition against turning on/off electrical appliances.
Remember that conceptually the prohibitions against working on Sabbath etc are laws. Christianity isn’t based on laws but on “moral precepts” and so this probably seems very strange to Christians. For Jews, the biblical commandments are laws (not merely moral guidelines) and so can sometimes be got around (in much the same way that people can get around bits of tax code, on technicalities.)