# My new oven has a Sabbath feature! Huh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 3, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-oven-has-a-sabbath-feature-huh/211145 "2003-11-03T13:34:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-oven-has-a-sabbath-feature-huh/211145/61 "2003-11-07T01:50:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\ ***panache45** , um, I think you kind of HAVE to pay people-otherwise, why would they wanna work? \*\* Sorry, what I meant was that they’d have to be paid either before or after the sabbath, since orthodox Jews aren’t supposed to handle money that day. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-oven-has-a-sabbath-feature-huh/211145/62 "2003-11-07T02:41:14Z")
Isn’t there something in the Torah about the Sabbath applying also to “the stranger who lives among you”, presumably meaning gentile? If I’m not misremembering that, then wouldn’t that preclude both hiring gentile help and asking for voluntary help from a kind gentile neighbor? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-oven-has-a-sabbath-feature-huh/211145/63 "2003-11-07T04:02:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by panache45 \* > \*\*Sorry, what I meant was that they’d have to be paid either before or after the sabbath, since orthodox Jews aren’t supposed to handle money that day. \*\* Oh, okay then. Yeah, you probably wouldn’t make the Sabbath payday-maybe Thursday or Wednesday. ---
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-oven-has-a-sabbath-feature-huh/211145/64 "2003-11-07T15:13:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cmkeller \* > there is (as far as I know…) no equivalent to that “blech” for the inside of the oven. I’m not sure what you mean here - if there is no need for a blech or a blech doesn’t help, or people just don’t tend to use them? The last option is correct. From the standpoint of _halacha_ the inside of the oven is the same as the top. But the thing is that a blech is only needed if the food is not halfway cooked before shabbos (some say 1/3) or if you want to remove it and replace it on Shabbos. This is common for foods that cook on the stove, which are frequently used for the day meal. People occasionally leave foods in ovens for the night meal, but these are generally mostly cooked by nightfall, and once removed are not replaced, so a blech is not needed. If this is not the case, an oven insert could be used as a blech. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \* > No offence, but how do _you_ know that’s what God wants? As far as I can tell, the difficulty in figuring out what God really wants is why there are so many factions of so many religions. Well I’m telling you what the position of the Jewish religion is. You are asking how I know that the Jewish religion is correct. That is something that I do not intend to debate. **panache45** , as noted earlier there is a rabbinnic prohibition against doing this. **Chronos** , the rules do not apply to Gentiles. The term “stranger” is frequently used to refer to converts. (The translation as “stranger” is also suspect, IMHO. The correct translation would be more along the lines of “someone who (merely) lives [there]”, meaning as opposed to a long term native/local.) **Captain Amazing** , I don’t know if that was the point of the tanur shel achnai. It did not involve so much “getting around” a ruling, as it did the issue of what is binding - the text of the Torah as understood by men, or the “true” interpretation. And the point of the story is that people’s interpretation is what counts. This then, is God’s will, not the theoretically “correct” interpretation. (As for why the Heavenly voice declared R’ Eliezer to be correct when in reality he was only correct in theory, this is understood to be in the honor of R’ Eliezer). ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-oven-has-a-sabbath-feature-huh/211145/65 "2003-11-07T17:22:39Z")
IzzyR: > [@](#): > > I’m not sure what you mean here What I meant was that no one produces such a thing, as far as I know. You can go into any Jewish-owned housewares store and get a sheet of metal for a range-top blech in several standard sizes, but ask them for an interior blech, and they’ll stare at you like you had just come from Mars. Chaim Mattis Keller [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-oven-has-a-sabbath-feature-huh/211145.md?page=3)