[Avodah] Koseiv on computers

[Micha Berger]

We're discussing on Areivim an article which discusses the decline of
print media, that it's likely that soon new books in physical print will
be rare.

>From RYLevin's post, quoting the Atlantic's article "People of
the E-Book? Observant Jews Struggle With Sabbath in a Digital Age"
<http://tinyurl.com/2cq8spz>:
> E-readers are problematic [on Shabbos and Yom Tov] not only because they
> are electronic but also because some rabbis consider turning pages on the
> device - which causes words to dissolve and then resurface - an act of
> writing, also forbidden on the Sabbath.

> Yet industry trends suggest digital media will eclipse print in a matter of
> decades.

And the article quotes Mechachem Wecker's blog entry on the Forward's
web site <http://www.forward.com/articles/11819/> Oct 17, 2007, which
asks:
> Has the Sabbath, in its modern prohibitions against computers, cell
> phones and iPods, changed substantially from its biblical day free of
> stick gathering and animal-skin dyeing? Will Shabbat observance ultimately
> dwindle as people choose electronic entertainment over media-free rest,
> or will technology-addicted folks flock to Shabbat to escape their
> electronics-obsession of the rest of the week?

As a current Kindle user, I can say that having a side-effect of
encouraging one to read Jewish literature on Shabbos and YT isn't so
terrible. However, let's say you need to unwind, your first language
isn't Hebrew, and you have certain standards in quality of writing that
make much of Jewish fiction frustrating to read. Now what?

So, why would an e-book reader be a problem?

The article raises two issues: electricity and mechiqah/kesivah. I lump
the latter two together because they both boil down to a single issue --
is the written word on an ebook screen considered kesivah?

The issur on electrical devices has widespread acceptance and yet is
hard to justify.

Particularly when discussing a device that doesn't have to be pluggged
into the wall (with the cell connection turned off, my year-old Kindle
can go about 2 weeks on a charge), thereby minimizing the justificability
of invoking "binyan".

Makeh bepatish stands about as well as it always does, but in devices
that aren't designed to run 24x7, it's hard to consider these things
broken when off.

There is no glowing filament (havarah/bishul) nor a sound made when
reading a book. (We might need book readers without a built-in audio
function.)

Reading an e-book is uvda dechol???

However, the general ban on electricity /is/ widely accepted. My forecast
is that the next Sanhedrin will allow many types of electrical devices,
but until they do we lack the authority to change things. And really the
only people qualified to make a reliable forecast would be candidates
for membership in that Sanhedrin...

What about kesivah?

Well, we usually do not consider letters written on a screen to be
kesivah, at least WRT sheimos. That it's like writing sheim H' on
the seashore below the high tide line, where the gemara says it lacks
qedushah because it was made to be transitory.

1- Is the definition of kesivah the same on Shabbos? Perhaps the
permanence of kesivah for sheimos is a longer interval? Don't we say
that transitory kesivah on Shabbos and YT is assur derabbanan, with
Machon Tzomet limiting the use of disappearing ink to situations like
hospital records. (Which are Xero

2- My real question is about e-paper, the kind of LCD used in the Kindle,
Nook, and other (B&W) readers, as opposed to the back-lit screen of a
cell phone, ipad, or laptop. The fact that it's passive, just something
that changes color rather than emits light, is a tzad leheter on the
electricity side. But e-paper only uses electricity when you change
pages. Meaning, if you display an image and leave the e-reader alone,
the text will stay on screen indefinitely.

It is thus un-like the question of sheimos on a regular computer display.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Weeds are flowers too
micha at aishdas.org        once you get to know them.
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