[Avodah] water and electricity

[Danny Schoemann]

R' David Riceman asked:
> 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.

I fail to see the parallel:

In electricity there's a circuit ("A path or route the complete traversal of
which without local change of direction requires returning to the starting
point.") which the electricity seems to flow around in.

Where is the circuit with water? It flows in from the river/Kinneret,
through the pipes and out down the drain.

In electricity you seem to be making/breaking this circular route.

In water you are simply preventing/causing the Kinneret to empty out.

(That said, I heard Rav YY Neuwirth (the ShShK) say (some 25 years ago in
shiur) that RSZA (who was still alive) would have permitted (non-Bishul)
electricity but felt incapable of disagreeing with the CI.)

- Danny
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