[Avodah] Star-K's heter to use electricity on Yom Tov

[Moshe Feldman]

torahmike at gmail.com wrote on Areivim:
<<
  Over Yom Tov, I came across the following huge kula of the Star-K,
in the booklet they distribute with their certified yom-tov ovens:
 Electricity is muttar to use on yom tov, as long as one does not
physically observe the effects. Therefore, they alllow you to
actually press buttons on an electric keypad on yom tov itself.
       Both of these are on their website:
         http://www.star-k.org/kashrus/kk-cooking-ovenyomtov.htm
       This chiddush is certainly against the widely quoted view of
the chazzon ish, that electricity is boneh.  Why would the
fact that you can't see the effects of your keypad pressing make it mutar?
>>

See Rabbi Broyde and Rabbi Jachter's article, "The Use of Electricity
on Shabbat and Yom Tov" (originally appeared in the RJJ Journal number
XXI), reprinted at
http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/english/journal/broyde_1.htm

Some excerpts:
<<The Chazon Ish's position has aroused great debate among halachic
scholars. The most vigorous and thorough critique of this position is
found in the eleventh chapter of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach's work,
the Minchat Shlomo. While Rabbi Auerbach advances numerous critiques
of the Chazon Ish's position, the most crucial aspect of his criticism
is that opening a circuit which is designed to be opened and closed
routinely cannot be considered an act of building or destroying.24
Closing a circuit is analogous to closing a door - an action which the
halacha does not consider to be "building" since the door is intended
to be opened and closed constantly.25

The overwhelming majority of halachic decisors appears to side with
Rabbi Auerbach. As the Encyclopedia Talmudit (18:166) states:

>From the writing of numerous achronim it appears that turning on an
electrical circuit does not violate the prohibition of fixing an
object [metaken mana and ma'keh bepatish] or building [boneh].26

Nevertheless, at the very least halachic authorities do take into
consideration the opinion of the Chazon Ish on this issue when
rendering decisions regarding electricity.
<snip>
Rabbi Auerbach (Minchat Shlomo 74, 84), after rejecting all the
potential sources discussed above for prohibiting the use of
electricity when no light or heat is generated, concludes that, at
least in theory, electrical appliances that use no heat or light
(e.g., a fan) are permitted on Shabbat and Yom Tov. However, he
declines actually to permit their use absent urgent need. He states:

In my opinion there is no prohibition [to use electricity] on Shabbat
or Yom Tov... There is no prohibition of ma'keh bepatish or molid...
(However, I [Rabbi Auerbach] am afraid that the masses will err and
turn on incandescent lights on Shabbat, and thus I do not permit
electricity absent great need...) ... This matter requires further
analysis.
. . . .
However, the key point in my opinion is that there is no prohibition
to use electricity on Shabbat unless the electricity causes a
prohibited act like cooking or starting a flame.

Rabbi Auerbach additionally states that since the tradition forbids
the use of electricity, and this tradition received near unanimous
approval from rabbinic authorities in the normal course of events
observant Jews should accept this tradition (even though he feels it
is based on incorrect premises) and operate under the presumption that
the use of electricity without light or heat is a violation, of
rabbinic origin, based on molid.41 Only in the case of urgent need
does he allow one to rely on his opinion that electricity is permitted
where no heat or light is generated.

<snip>
A number of rabbinic authorities, including Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank
and Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein (the author of the Aruch Hashulchan),
accepted the approach that permitted turning on lights on Yom Tov.52
However, this is not the approach of most authorities.
<snip>
It also appears that any authority who permits turning on lights on
Yom Tov (except perhaps for those who do so based on the indirect
causation analysis, see note 55) must agree with the position of Rabbi
Auerbach that there is no halachic obstacle to using electricity when
no light and heat are produced.
>>

Kol tuv,
Moshe