Kosherswitch, how long will it be before we all have them?

Sanguine

Wed, Apr 15 2015, 7:09 am

Getting used to an ereuv or light is not a good reason to not take advantage of advancement in the world (I'm not talking about the Kosherswitch cause I think it's a Scam as I've said). There was a time when everyone sat in the dark and ate cold food on Shabbat. Now we all have Shabbos clocks. There are a lot of Halachot that we have to learn if we want to heat food on Shabbat. And we do that. The eruv has made such a change in people's Oneg Shabbat. Women can go to shul. People can visit on Shabbat. It's our job to explain to children what an eruv is and communities without one should make sure to inform visitors. But it's actually anti-religion to tell mother's of young children that it's impossible for them to come hear Parshat Zechor or participate in their older son's Bar Mitzva or to go to Shul on a regular Shabbat (I don't like when shul is full of wild kids but a baby sleeping in a carriage or a toddler sitting and looking at a book shouldn't keep a mother from hearing leining and chazarat HaShatz).

Scrabble123

Wed, Apr 15 2015, 9:59 am

Sanguine wrote:

Sorry, I went to sleep after asking about modern light switches so I wasn't in that conversation (I actually saw it on my smartphone - first time I've used my phone like that and tried responding but failed - think I need more smartphone lessons from my teens) - So my question after all those light switch options - What are the 3 things that I highlighted in the quote above?

LL= lower level

On HUD = Receiving housing assistance payment or living in a building owned by the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.

Hovel = An English word that means a shelter for cattle or as Magenta was referring to, a humble dwelling.

amother

Natural

Wed, Apr 15 2015, 1:57 pm

Got this in an email:

Rabbi Oelbaum has asked that his son's comment on YeshivaWorld regarding Rav Oelbaum's position on kosher switch be publicized.

Rabbi Noach Isaac Oelbaum's true position on kosher switch

I regret that my father's position on the kosher switch was misrepresented by stating that he endorses it l'maaseh . His position is that there are 2 aspects in hilchos shabbos, one is issur melacha and then there is zilzul shabbos. My father's opinion is that there is no issur melacha or chilul shabbos. However , there is a concern about zilzul shabbos as he stated clearly on the video. Before it is used one should ask a shaila from his rav.

Moshe Oelbaum

Son of Rabbi N I Oelbaum

fmt4

Thu, Apr 16 2015, 7:37 pm

Subject: Kosher Switch for Shabbat
In response to your request, I shall refer to the electric switch presented as the ‘Kosher Switch’, and to the website link you sent me, which explains the Halachic background, and even appends a long list of rabbis who have expressed a blessing or support.
The following is my position:
A. Truth be told, I was amazed how easy it is to receive endorsement letters from rabbis. It is apparent that one relies on the other, without taking personal responsibility, and with the fall of the foundation the entire house falls. I do not know what was explained to the rabbis that ‘signed’; however it is clear to any reasonable halachic man that there is no way to permit prohibitions of Shabbat (D’Oraita or D’Rabbanan), not even with Halachic tricks or acrobatics.
B. The whole proposed story relies on the leniency of ‘Gramma’, which no consensus rabbi would permit L’chatchila for domestic and personal use. All ‘Gramma’ or similar halakhic arrangements carried out by the Zomet Institute or Technology Institute in Jerusalem were permitted solely for medical, security and similar needs. Even if they added to the ‘Gramma’ additional apparatuses, and even if there is a one in a thousand chance that the action will not occur, I have received from my rabbis (R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and R. Shaul Yisraeli) that this does not change in any way the halakhic status of regular ‘Gramma’ (just like Gramma D’Gramma and other artificial arrangements).
C. Even if the method of operation is non-active from the point of view of the agent, I.e. because he merely removes the “preventing element,” Rabbi S. Z. Auerbach and others wrote that this remains forbidden and is treated like it was done directly by the person, since the action occurs immediately after the human intervention/action. Even if the result comes only after a delay caused by an additional factor, this is plain Gramma, which is still not permitted L’chatchila.
D. And here is the main part of my remarks: Yesterday I went to my teacher and rabbi HaGaon Rabbi Yehoshua Neuwirth, Shlita, and I asked him whether he permitted to use this switch to activate electricity on Shabbat for the purposes of Oneg Shabbat, etc… He was really shocked and said he never permitted that. When I showed him the endorsement letter, he added in his handwriting: “Only for medicine and security” (see photo in attached Hebrew article). Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl Shlita, who signed a similar letter, also told me yesterday that he does not recall ever signing anything like that, and expressed the opinion that there is no place for this and was puzzled about the whole thing.
I suppose that whoever managed to get the signatures of important rabbis ‘sold’ them an invention that is a kind of a complex Gramma used for the purpose of medicine or security, and succeeded in skipping this condition when they signed.
E. With regard to the the claim, written in their accompanying halachic responsum, that it is permitted to use this Gramma switch to minimize the prohibition of those who willfully the violate the Shabbat, we have never heard of such rabbis who permit this. I am sure that those who ‘agreed’ did not see this argument, and this is an argument that should not be stated.
With prayer L’Ktiva Vachatima Tova to all of Israel,
Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, Head of the Zomet Institute