[Avodah] water and electricity

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, May 03, 2009 at 09:49:42AM -0400, David Riceman wrote:
: The question came up over Shabbos whether Rabbi Karelitz, who prohibited 
: opening and closing (as they say in modern Hebrew) an electrical circuit 
: on Shabbos because of binyan and stirah, said the same thing about a 
: water circuit (e.g., opening or closing a tap in the sink).  We could 
: think of no logical distinction between the two cases.

To really be similar, there has to be a load that does work only when the
circuit is closed. Such as a water-wheel -- not a tap in the sink. But the
water-wheel has to be doing something that isn't itself a melakhah, let's
say it's pushing a fan. And I'm not sure the CI would actually allow.

Second, I don't know if in the CI considered electricity a fluid.

But the whole analysis is off. It's an abstract / objective comparison.
Even if the CI thought electricity was a fluid, the experience of
electricity is totally unlike water. The point is that an electrical
circuit is a work-doing thing; that's what they're made for. The same
structure not there for work isn't necessarily "broken".

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 26th day, which is
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