[Avodah] Explaining boneh/electricity to a non-religious person

[rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com]

Plz post
R Zev Sero:
> 2. The prohibition on having ones mill running on shabbos, or any similar
> machine that makes noise heard by passersby, who will think that one
> is breaking shabbos. This doesn't apply if there are no Jews within a
> techum shabbos. It also would seem not to apply to any machine that is
> not audible from outside ones property, such as a radio. And it surely
> wouldn't apply if a Jewish passerby's first thought would be that it
> was on from before shabbos, or was on a timer (e.g. a clock radio in
> the morning).
> Did you mean one of these two issues, or something else?

I'm referring to Cat#2

Maaseh re: where vistors come by

I have used a clock-radio to wake up in the morning and I leave it run
on Shabbos

I once had a Shabbos guest [a PhD!] Question me - "how did I turn on a
radio on Shabbos?"

I was shocked - shocked! ;-) that he was chosheish me! Hadn't he ever
seen or heard of a clock radio before?

So it's my impression that leaving on radios or TV's fall into cat#2
here. [I'm open to changing my perception on this!]

But I have permitted programming a VCR before Shabbos to run out-of-sight

KT
RRW
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