[Avodah] electricity

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, May 06, 2009 at 08:40:26AM +0300, R Eli Turkel wrote:
: There was an exchange of letters between CI and RSZA sothe opinion of each one
: should not be that mysterious.
: CI actually mentioned 2 reasons that he considered electricity to be Boneh.

Yes, an entire week-and-a-half ago. Forever in email time.

As I already wrote, I understood the CI as given one two-part reason.

: One that it is completing a circuit (and RSZA objected based on the
: water plumbing
: analogy) and another that one is turning a dead matter in something
: "living" (chai).

My understanding, upon reading it, was that the CI defined "boneh" as
including completing a circuit that makes something live. Of course,
that means that I not only saw the CI differently than RET did, but RSZA
as well. It would be shakey, if it were not that my approach eliminates
RSZA's question from plumbing, and thus could well have been peshat.

: IMHO this is a major chidush of the CI that this constitures boneh
: which has little precedent.

Well, the chidush is slightly smaller if the CI was only talking about
things plugged into a binyan.

: I have been told that several gedolim before CI suggested electricity
: is prohibited because of
: boneh and they all rejected it. To the best of my knowledge it is
: still considered a
: daas yachid but respected at leats lechatchila because of the stature of CI.

2- Well, the Beis Yitzchaq (2:31) gives the second part of the CI's sevara
alone, and says that's enough for molid. He compares to molid reicha --
scenting clothes on Shabbos.

3- Alternatively, the first half of the sevara can be turned into makeh
bepatish eacily enough.

Then there are the sevaros that don't cover every circuit:
    4- heating a wire until it glows = bishul / havarah
    5- sparking is havarah
    6- tunable circuits or sound-making systems are included in the
      gezeira against kelei zemer.

7- There is also the issue of causing the power plant to burn more fuel,
but that is obviously dismissed by anyone who uses Chevrat haChashmal's
power on Shabbos.

Besach hakol, RSZ (Nimchas Shelomo pg 74) dismisses that entire list
of issues before deciding
8- it's minhag Yisrael, not groundable in halakhah.

FWIW, my greatgrandfather wrote two teshuvos on the use of electricity
on shvy"t. In the first, he was matir. He dismisses some of the grounds
for issur, and concludes there is no problem; and on YT it's a davar
pashut.

But that teshuvah was written in a shtetl in Litta. When he moved to
Frankfurt, and electricity was commonplace -- and its prohibition well
accepted, he wrote a second teshuvah le'esor. But the topic wasn't about
hilkhos Shabbos, it was about acharei rabbim lehatos.

...
: Similarly CI doesnt make any differentiation between actively closing
: the circuit and
: removing a resistor that allows electricity to flow through an existing circuit.

Which fits my read, that it's two factors in one answer.

: A question that did not exist in the days of CI is completing a
: wireless circuit. If the
: prohibition is making the circuit "live" one doesnt need physical
: wires however, if
: it depends on closing a circuit one may need a physical circuit ie real wires

AISI, he would matir, because you only have one of two necessary elements
to a single argument. Of course, all this is based upon believing my
own naive reading of the CI over RSZA's, a somewhat dubious proposition.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

PS: RDB's description of a particular security system is atypical of
modern systems. Nowadays, arming the system means powering up a computer,
not closing one of two switches needed to cause the alarm to wail.

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 36th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        5 weeks and 1 day in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Chesed sheb'Yesod: What is the kindness in
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