[Avodah] Re: How do you explain issur of electricity (boneh) to a non religious person

[mirskym at sympatico.ca]

Avroham said: "So how do I explain 
the issur of electricity (boneh) Truth is I do not know enough about
circuits and electricity to really do it. But the question will b how 
is turning a light switch on building ? 

And if one could create a type of device that is not boneh, does 
that mean some lights could be turned on during Shabbat" 

I am an electrical engineer working for the local power company. This is a
very complicated topic and I suggest you look up some source material. 
Boneh is not the only problem (although IIRC it was one of the issues
raised by the Chazon Ish, but there are those who dispute that closing a
circuit is boneh).

Other melachot which could be involved with turning on a circuit are
burning a fire and makeh be-patish (giving the final finishing blow on a
utensil to make it useable), and I think there are others.  The fire aspect
comes about in 2 possible ways: 1) I believe all poskim say that turning on
an incandescent bulb is tantamount to lighting a fire due to the glowing
heat of the filament, and 2) the power system works in a perfect balance
between electricy demand and power generation. 

When you turn on something, a generator somewhere on the system has to give
a stronger "kvetch" and burns up more fuel in response (this wouldn't apply
to a system using only hydro power.) However, I learned at a lecture from
Tzomet Institute that this is not a "psik raisha" - inevitable outcome. 
This is because on a large power system people are constantly turning on
and off lights, so it's likely that at the instant you turn on your device,
someone turned their's off, and the generation remains the same.   So it
may be a gramma - indirect action, but that still doesn't allow use of
electricity willy nilly.

So considering 1) and 2), absent the issue of boneh, it is possible that
turning on a neon or any other lamp that is cold and starts without a spark
could be permitted.

My understanding is that because the layman couldn't possibly understand
all the various ways electricity can be used, and which may or may not be
problematic, a general prohibition is in place to prevent errors in a
deoraisa.

Michael Mirsky
mirskym at sympatico.ca



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