[Avodah] electricity on shabbat

[David Riceman]

Me:
> : If I correctly understand Rabbi Auerbach's description of Rabbi 
> : Karelitz's opinion (which I sincerely doubt I do) it is that electric 
> : current induces a qualitative change in the wire it flows through.  I 
> : don't see how the current being drawn from a battery would affect that.
>   
RMB:
> I thought that was the "bishul" argument.
No it's metakken mana, which is a tolada of binyan.
>  In any case, most batteries to
> not push 120v, and therefore what it does to the wire is less signific<a>ant
> -- barring wires designed for it, like a flashlight bulb filament.
>   
But Rabbi Karelitz understands this to be a qualitative change, not a 
quantitative change, so "less significant" is irrelevant.  He maintains 
that any current which makes a circuit changes the wire into something 
else.  As I said before, I don't understand his opinion (and IIUC Rabbi 
Auerbach also claimed not to understand it), but that is the plain sense 
of his words.  Reinterpreting them to fit your understand of the 
physical reality is virtuous, but it's not convincing.

David Riceman